Mist and Fire
by Zannen
Summary: What if Naruto wasn't the only smiling, ramen loving blonde in Konoha? And what if Sasuke wasn't the only moody genius survivor of a Clan massacre? This story is the answer to both questions. OCx?
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Naruto.

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Chapter One

Shouts and the sound of metal clanging against metal woke the young girl from a deep slumber. She rubbed her eyes and looked around the dark room. Her brother wasn't lying on the futon next to her and she felt the presence of her parents hurrying to the chamber.

The screen slammed open to reveal a tall blonde man with a pretty redheaded woman. The woman ran to the confused girl and quickly dressed her in her training clothes. Once the sturdy new sandals were on her feet, urgent palms forced her to meet the clear gray eyes of her mother.

"You have to run," Suki whispered. She brushed her hand through the girl's dark blonde hair. Suki took the necklace she wore off of her neck and placed it around her daughter, tucking it under her shirt.

"What?" she asked.

"Follow the peach trees," Suki said. "Follow them and then the river. Run _with _the flow, sweetie. Do you understand me?"

"Mother…"

"We don't have much time, Suki," the man interrupted, looking over his shoulder at something. Sweat beaded on his forehead and frown lines appeared on his face. The girl focused her eyes and saw the chakra strings that emerged from her father's hands. She knew that meant he was working.

"Is it a mission?" she asked innocently, but with a shrewdness that revealed her mental age.

"Yes," Suki murmured. Her daughter immediately turned to wrap her kunai holster around her left leg and grab the weapons pouch that hooked onto the waistband of her black pants. She smiled bitterly and guided her to the window. "Keep your chakra low, but keep your pace fast and silent."

"Where am I going?"

"In three, maybe two, days, depending on how fast you run, you'll find a village near where the river ends. It's called Konohagakure. When you get there, show the guards the necklace. They won't hurt you. They'll take you to a palace with the word 'Fire' on the top of it. Give the necklace to the man with blonde hair—everyone will call him the Hokage. He'll tell you the rest of your mission then. Warai, do _exactly _as he says. Obey him like you would me or the Mizukage."

Warai nodded at each sentence and grasped the necklace underneath her shirt. Suki was amazed as her youngest calmly took the information and stored it away. The child wasn't fazed by the sounds of battle obviously in full swing around them. She just looked up at her mother.

"What about nii-chan?"

Shadows covered Suki's face for a moment as she frowned. The girl didn't need any other motions or words to understand that her brother was as good as dead. Whether their enemies captured him or he was _truly _deceased, it didn't matter. As of this moment, Taka Warai didn't have an older brother.

A blast from the doorway of the chamber brought the females' attention away from each other and the girl screamed as she saw the kunai buried in her father's chest. Cloaked figures strode into the room and a fire jutsu headed for the two by the window. Suki blocked most of it from her child, taking the brunt of the attack.

Blood spilled from her lips as she tried to order Warai to leave. Warai stared in shock as the figures kicked her father in the stomach and her mother fell to her knees, burn marks evident on her face and arms. The child's calm façade broke and tears filled her eyes. Seeing was different from hearing.

Seeing was _very _different than hearing.

Warai felt a wave of chakra push her towards the window and remembered her mission. She ducked when one of the figures reached out to grab her and bolted out the window. The figure tried to follow, but was held back by multiple chakra strings.

"Warai! RUN!"

The eight-year-old didn't see what happened to her mother, but the urgency behind the yell spurred her into action. Her feet tripped over themselves as she ran through the orchard that her family managed and protected for the daimyou of Water Country. Luckily, she caught herself before her chin hit the damp ground. She brushed her dark blonde hair impatiently out of her eyes and kept running, following the peach trees.

The cloaked figure looked at the fleeing child and then down at the two bleeding figures on the ground. A sneer spread across his features and narrowed his eyes. They were the last family in their clan of shinobi. Once he was finished, the Taka Clan will cease to exist. But these two couldn't just _die. _Even when the situation was hopeless, they fought.

_Pathetic._

"You won't succeed, traitor!" Suki spat, glad that Warai was no longer in the room. "You'll never gain power over the Taka Clan's secrets!" She knew her husband was using the last of his strength to keep their enemies from Warai. They just had to stall them until their daughter got a decent lead. Taka children were fast on their feet, and none were as fast as Warai.

Suki focused her energy and prepared to use the last of her strength to thwart the man who so selfishly ruined their lives. Activating her kekkei genkai, Suki snarled at the man in front of her. Her previously gray eyes were now glowing an eerie ice blue. Sharp blue chakra gathered the water in the air. The water turned into ice and solidified into claws that extended from her fingernails. She dug the claws into her ice blue orbs and viciously blinded herself.

"Stupid bitch. We _will_ learn the secret of your bloodline limit," the figure murmured. He gestured to the ice claws still attached to Suki's fingers, although the woman could no longer see the movement. "In fact, I learned a little something just now. Your claws are still here, so it's obviously not a true _doujutsu._"

_Damn. _Suki's body shook as she cursed silently. _I didn't mean to give that away. _

"But your eyes are important enough to your 'gift' that you're willing to destroy them to keep me from examining them. But there are still the other's in your clan. Not to mention the corpses of your son and daughter, as well as your husband."

Suki felt a small surge of fear followed by a larger wave of smugness.

Little did the man know that her clan's kekkei genkai was a female trait; passed on from the X chromosome of the Taka Clan's DNA as a recessive gene that only fully manifested itself in the women of the clan. The men could use _some _of the jutsus created by those with their bloodline limit, but only through years and years of training and the attacks were never as powerful as when the women performed them. He would learn nothing from her son's body and Warai would soon be lost to him.

Neither would he learn anything from the corpses of the women of her clan, if he killed them already. Every woman of Taka blood had a seal tattooed onto their bodies once they showed signs of their kekkei genkai. The seal destroyed the eyes of the marked person after her death. Suki felt blood pool into her eye sockets and smirked. It was dramatic, blinding herself this way, but she needed to divert this man's attention away from her child.

She smiled grimly when she heard her husband grunt in pain and felt the point of a kunai stab her abdomen. Her body fell heavily onto the wooden floor and she saw her children in her mind's eye along with the face of her old sensei.

_Yondaime-sama, _she thought. _Take care of my daughter._

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Warai didn't know exactly where she was going, but she knew that she had to get away from the killing intentshe felt smothering her. The emotion practically seeped into the early morning mist that regularly occurred in this part of the country. When she glanced behind her, Warai noticed the flashes of kunais hitting one another and scented the heavy tinge of blood in the air. Muted screams and shouts echoed through the orchard and followed the girl.

She was almost out of the orchard when she felt the presence of two people running behind her. She turned and stopped when saw that the figures wore porcelain masks. Her gray eyes widened when she recognized the symbol on the masks. They were from Kirigakure; they were from the Hidden Village of Mist. They were Mist nins like her father and mother; they were comrades. A sob of relief passed her lips as she ran to the warm arms of the people sworn to protect her.

Rough hands caught the slight form of the young girl and kept her from getting too close to the owner's body. She was shaking so badly that she didn't notice that she was clinging to him more than he was supporting her. She felt warm liquid on her cheek and her mind identified it as blood. She looked up at the ninja and saw a bloody bag hanging from the ninja's neck. Warai reached a hand to touch the pouch and felt shock run through her body when her fingers clasped around the four, soft, orbs it contained.

Horror and rage flew through her as she realized what she was holding and her soul recognized the chakra of the man standing before her. She stared at the blank mask of the ninja and growled. Her gray eyes flashed ice blue and the temperature around them dropped ten degrees. Warai ripped the bag from the ninja's neck and jumped back until ten feet separated them.

"You sounded exactly like your mother for a moment," the man remarked in a silky voice.

"What did you do to her?" Warai snarled, pulling out a kunai.

"I don't want to damage you," the ninja sighed. "Come here."

"What did you do to her?"

"She's dead."

"LIAR!"

"Stop playing around," the other ninja whispered to his partner. "We need to go on with the mission. Sensei expected us back hours ago."

Warai's eyes widened at the word. _Mission? Why would Kirigakure order our deaths? _She remembered what her mother told her and frowned. She knew she had to leave—now.

Acting mostly on instinct, Warai raised her right hand in front of her face, her index and middle fingers extended. She closed her eyes and calmly concentrated her anger into her jutsu. The men watched in wonder as the mist around them began to grow heavy. The mist became snow and the snow became ice. The first ninja stepped forward, only to have the ice slice his arm open.

"What?" he asked.

"You made a mistake coming after me in the mist," Warai whispered. Her eyes opened and glowed the same ice blue as her mother's did.

"_Hyoro no Jutsu!" _(Ice Prison Technique)

The ice enveloped the two men and froze their bodies in the crystals. Warai turned and ran out of the orchard, but not before throwing a kunai with an explosive tag at the human popsicles. She was already a hundred meters away when she heard the explosion. A bitter smile crossed her face as she pushed more chakra to her feet and ran out of the orchard. The river flowed slowly to the southeast and Warai took off.

She made sure that her tracks were covered and that her chakra was low enough that only an Elite Jounin or Tracker could sense her. Warai thanked her parents for playing tag and hide-and-seek with her and her brother every day—even when the two children declared themselves too old for those games. Now she realized that, under the pretense of a simple children's game, they taught her how to evade and run from an enemy.

It made her wonder what else her parents taught her using such "games." As the kilometers between her and her old home grew, more thoughts ran through her mind. But one stood out among the rest.

_I'm only eight and I've already killed, _she mused. _Father would have been proud. _

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A/N:**

If there's any confusion about the genetics of the Taka Clan's kekkei genkai, ask in the review section. I'll try to make everything clearer.

This is my first try at fanfiction, so please be nice. My beta is my cousin, some of you might know her as blacksyryn, so if the style's the same you can blame our English teachers. She's the one who gave me my pen name too! I love Zannen.

Until then, review please :)


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: **Come on, if I owned Naruto I'd make the fillers end and pick up the pace on the manga.

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Chapter Two

Warai jerked when she heard the groan of a tree branch near her. She cautiously opened an eye and noticed the dark shape of a ninja in a porcelain dog mask. She raised her kunai to her chest and stared openly at the man.

"Who are you?" she croaked out. She ran full out for almost two days, following the river, and only took one soldier pill to replenish her energy. In other words, she was parched, hungry, and her feet hurt.

"The question is who are _you_?" the man asked in a lazy voice. Warai couldn't make out anything except that he was lean, muscular, and had a shock of gray hair that stood up and to one side like a scarecrow.

The girl sat up from her reclining position on the sturdy tree limb and stared at the man. "That's not important. Which village are you from?"

"Why would you ask that?" he wondered aloud. His head tilted to the side and Warai couldn't help but think he was smiling at her. "You're a long way from Wave Country, little girl. You're in Fire Territory now."

"How…?"

"Your clothes."

Warai looked down at her clothing. Black pants that reached her calves covered her legs and a dark blue kimono wrapped around her young body. It was the usual uniform for shinobi children from Water Country.

"Do you know where Konohagakure is?" she asked abruptly.

"Why do you need to go there?"

"Why do you answer my questions with another question?"

The man's mask tilted up to the sky and he answered in a philosophical tone of voice. "Don't most answers lead to more questions? Besides, information should be shared on equal ground among travelers."

"Really? You're the one wearing a mask."

Kakashi's eyes widened behind his mask and he smirked. "Tell me your name and I'll take off this mask," he offered, tapping the porcelain.

"Taka Warai of the Taka Clan," she answered. "My mother sent me to Konohagakure on a mission." Kakashi's lazy posture stiffened at the girl's clan name. A normal eight-year-old wouldn't have noticed, but Warai wasn't normal.

"Why?" he asked.

She shook her head. "You still haven't taken off the mask."

He sighed and removed the porcelain from his face to reveal…a black half-mask that covered his entire face except for his eyes, forehead, and the top of his cheekbones. "There you go. Now why is a member of the Mist's illustrious Taka family in Fire Territory? I assume that you know that Fire Country isn't exactly on friendly terms with Wave."

"Everyone knows _that,_" Warai humphed. "I'm not some stupid kid. I told you my mom sent me on a mission. I have to get to Konohagakure. And what's with the mask under the mask? Are you _that _ugly?"

Kakashi grunted, glad she didn't acknowledge his mismatched eyes. "Konohagakure is that way," he said, pointing to the east. "I'm headed there myself. We could go together."

Warai narrowed her eyes at the man. Even though she didn't comment on his eyes, she noticed them. One was pure black while the other was red and had three tiny tomoe around his pupil. She always thought tomoe looked like tadpoles. She knew that the red eye was the bloodline limit of the Uchiha Clan—the Sharingan. It was capable of copying her jutsus and movements. With it, the man in front of her could probably predict her every move. Her parents were strict in her education; she had basic information on almost every bloodline limit in Wave, Fire, and Wind Countries.

"_It's important to know the different kekkei genkai in the world, Warai. You never know when you'll meet someone who has one. Know their strengths for when you are allies and their weaknesses when you find that they're your enemies." _

Her father's voice sounded in her mind and she decided to trust the man for now. After all, the Uchihas were one of Konoha's most prestigious families. She nodded and stood up, stretching her tired muscles.

"Hai, Uchiha-san," she said. She didn't notice Kakashi's wince at the name since he put his dog mask back on. "Once there, can you take me to a palace that has the word 'Fire' on it? I need to speak to someone there."

"You can call me Kakashi," he corrected. Hearing someone call him by his deceased friend's surname made him uncomfortable. "Are you looking for anyone in particular?"

"A blonde man people call the Hokage. I assume he has the same position of power as the Mizukage back home," Warai replied. She looked over at her new companion and noticed that he seemed frozen at her words. "Are we going?"

"Yes," Kakashi said, regaining his composure. For someone who knew about the bloodline limits of other countries, the girl was completely ignorant of other—more common—pieces of information.

She didn't know the location of Konohagakure or the fact that the Yondaime died seven years ago. How odd…

Kakashi decided to watch over the girl even after he "dropped her off" at the Hokage Palace. He took off at his normal pace before it registered that a child wouldn't be able to keep up with him. He looked over his shoulder and was surprised to note that Warai was moving as fast as he did with ease.

_What's going on?_

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"Hokage-sama," Kakashi murmured respectfully. The old man turned around and saw one of his best ANBU standing next to a small child with huge gray eyes. "My mission is complete."

"I assumed that when I saw you, Kakashi," he laughed. His eyes landed on the child and his eyebrow rose slightly in question.

"You're the Hokage?" she asked softly. Her mother told her the man would be blonde. This man was just _old._ Her hand clasped the necklace under her shirt and she took a step back.

"Yes, I'm the Hokage," he answered. "Why is a child of the Taka Clan here in Konoha, though?"

Warai's lip quivered a bit, but she controlled her emotions and she took her mother's necklace off. "I was ordered by my mother to give this to the blonde Hokage."

"I'm afraid the blonde Hokage passed away," Sarutobi said, but he took the necklace anyway. His eyes widened when he recognized the crest on it. "Where did your mother get this?"

"I don't know."

"We should send a messenger to her and request that she come to Konoha and explain herself," Sarutobi said to himself. "Kakashi, I know that the last mission was supposed to be your last as an ANBU, but could you perhaps—"

"You can't," Warai interrupted. The two men looked at her and tears came to her eyes once more, but she refused to let them fall. "She's dead."

"How?"

"Two days ago, men came in the middle of the night," she recounted in a dead, monotone voice. She had two days to deal with the bulk of her grief. She was enough of a ninja to report what happened to another ninja without betraying too much emotion.

"Mother and Father were on a long-term C-class mission to protect the daimyou's orchards near the border of Water and Fire and so they moved our family away from Kirigakure. They killed my brother and father. Mother told me to run here. I got away, but they killed her and went after me."

"What happened to the men who came after you?" Kakashi asked, lazily.

Warai turned equally dead, dull gray eyes on the man. "When they caught up to me, I killed them," she said simply.

"Hmm…" Sarutobi stroked his beard before lighting his pipe. If the girl was telling the truth, problems were going to start piling up.

A knock at the door interrupted their little meeting. A man with a scar across the bridge of his nose and wearing a green chuunin vest came in.

"An urgent message from Kirigakure, Hokage-sama," he said. "It seems that several of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist planned an uprising against the Water Country and the Mizukage himself. In the process, they killed as many of the village's clans that possessed a kekkei genkai as possible."

"Which clans were affected, Iruka?" the Hokage demanded.

Warai shook at the news. It wasn't just her family that was targeted; it was her entire clan. Now she truly _was _alone in the world. Sarutobi and Iruka imagined that it was shock that held the girl, but Kakashi knew it was rage.

"The last known members of the I-guru Clan were killed. The Kaguya Clan took advantage of the situation and attacked the village. The Mist shinobi had no choice but to kill every last one of them. And the Taka Clan…"

"Was wiped out completely…" Warai finished. All eyes turned to her as she raised her head and stared at the Hokage in the eye. "Except for me."

"Close the door, Iruka," Sarutobi ordered the shocked chuunin. "Taka-san, you're mother trusted that the Yondaime would accept you here—for what reason I don't know. But I must think of the safety of the village first. If the Swordsmen find out we are giving you shelter, they might attack us."

"So don't tell them I'm here," she replied. She knew why she was here. It took her a good day to figure it out, but she knew. Her mother sent her to this village to hide. If they didn't take her in, no one would.

The three men were silent and she continued.

"I'll change my name," she said. "Even though I was ready to pass as a genin in Kirigakure, I'll go back to your academy and learn your ways, your jutsus. I won't cause any trouble and I will swear my loyalty to you and to Konoha."

"You could just live as a civilian," Sarutobi started.

"No," Warai declined. "I've been trained in the ways of shinobi for too long. I could never be a normal civilian again."

Sarutobi and Kakashi nodded. They understood the girl's feelings completely. Before he came out of retirement after the Yondaime's death, Sarutobi felt himself slowly going stir crazy with the "simple life." Kakashi, burnt out by being in ANBU, also opted to become an Elite Jounin rather than go back to civilian life.

"Where will you live?" Iruka asked protective as always towards children. "If no one's supposed to know your clan affiliation, then how will you persuade people let an outsider into their homes?"

"The villagers aren't that heartless. They won't allow an orphan to live alone," Sarutobi said.

Kakashi and Iruka looked at each other before turning to their superior and raising their eyebrows in contradiction to his statement.

"Uzumaki and Uchiha live alone," Iruka murmured.

"Uchiha?" Warai asked. "But aren't you an Uchiha, Kakashi-san? Why would an Uchiha orphan live alone?"

"I'm not an Uchiha, Taka-san," Kakashi answered. "The story about how I got this eye is too long to tell you at the moment. And I have no desire to tell you the story at all in the first place."

"Well we can't have _three _orphans living alone in this village," Iruka stated.

"Why don't this Uchiha and Uzumaki live together?" Warai asked. "That way, I can move in and we can all take care of each other. Living alone is something we can do when we're older."

The men looked at each other again and wondered why they didn't think of that in the first place. Then the faces of the now sullen and moody Sasuke along with the perpetually loud and boisterous Naruto came to their minds and realized why not. They would kill each other long before bedtime.

"There are _factors _involved, Taka-san," Iruka explained.

"They hate each other, don't they?" she asked. She didn't wait for an affirmative, but continued. "Well, I'll live with the one who won't put up too much of a fuss."

"There's still the matter of your identity," Sarutobi said, realizing that Konoha just gained another member into its family, whether they wanted her or not.

"Why do I have to have a last name anyway? Can't I just be Warai? Or how about Hyoro Warai if I really need one? I don't want to loose _everything _from Water Country," she brushed her blonde hair out of her eyes and frowned.

_She _wants_ to be named ice laughter? _Kakashi wondered. _Weird kid._

"Alright," the Hokage agreed. "Hyoro Warai it is then. Iruka, take Hyoro-san to meet Naruto. Kakashi, once you're finished at the ANBU office, pick her up and meet Sasuke. I want to know who you prefer living with at the end of today."

The three bowed to the Hokage and left the room.

The newly named Hyoro Warai looked up at the brown-skinned man next to her.

"Naruto and Sasuke, huh? What kind of girls are they?"

"Uh…"

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A/N:**

Chapter two done! Yay me.

So Warai is a strange mix of knowledge, ignorance, innocence, and killing genius.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Naruto.

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Chapter Three

"IRUKA-SENSEI!"

Warai winced at the loud yell, but smiled when the boy who made the sound ran towards them from the other end of the playground. He waved to three other boys and bolted for the chuunin as soon as he saw the man. She had a vague impression of a short, energetic boy before he came closer and she could see his features more clearly. Warai took the moment to observe her potential roommate.

The first thing she noticed was his blonde hair. The afternoon sunlight bounced off of the golden locks and emphasized the fact that it spiked out in every direction regardless of the laws of gravity. His pure blue eyes captured her attention next. The sapphire orbs reminded her of the color her mother's eyes became whenever she used the more intense _Suiton_ (Water Release) jutsus instead of the eerie ice blue of the _Hyoton _(Ice Release) ones.

As he came closer, she noted that he was shorter than her by a few centimeters, but if the old wives' tale about big hands and feet was true, she believed that he'd reach 5'8 at the very least when he reached adulthood. She thought dirt stains from playing around were on his face, but realized that he had dark birthmarks on his cheeks. Three whisker-like marks lay on each of the tanned cheeks and added to the overall look of mischief the boy carried around like a flag.

He stopped before he slammed into them and stared at Warai in question. His eyes slid over her and she knew he was having some sort of inner dialogue by the way his lips puckered. Other girls may have considered his stare rude, but Warai didn't object to the scrutiny. After all, she did the same to him earlier.

"Hyoro-san, I want to introduce you to Uzumaki Naruto," Iruka smiled at the boy and placed his hand on her shoulder.

"Oi, Iruka-sensei," the blonde boy said in a stage whisper, covering the side of his mouth with his hand. "Who's this blonde girl? She's kinda cute. I like her eyes."

Warai looked down at the ground and fought off a blush. Trained shinobi or not, survivor of tragedy or not, she was still an eight-year-old girl and the boy was kind of cute too.

"Warai," she whispered, still looking down. "My name is Hyoro Warai. Pleased to meet you." A tanned hand appeared in her view and she looked up into his deep blue eyes.

"Pleased to meet you, Warai-chan. Your name means 'laughter' right? Well it suits you," Naruto smiled. "You look like you smile a lot. I like girls who smile!"

When she shyly took his hand, he took it and bowed over the limb. He just finished watching a movie with his friends: Kiba, Shikamaru, and Chouji. The hero of the cartoon always bowed over girls' hands, so he decided to do the same. His ear still burned from the slap he got when he tried the same thing with Sakura-chan, but that didn't deter the blonde.

He was going to be a hero. It was his dream.

Warai smiled and placed her other hand over his. "You're very nice, Naruto-kun," she said. Iruka hid a smirk at the boy's actions. He was turning into quite the smooth talker and the chuunin couldn't help but wonder who Naruto was emulating.

_Maybe I should watch who talks to him from now on, _he thought, slightly worried that it was Hatake Kakashi or worse—Maito Gai.

"Look!" another boy yelled near the swings. "Uzumaki has a girlfriend!"

Naruto straightened and glared at the heckler. "Shut up, Kiba!" he shouted. "Just because I'm being polite doesn't make her my girlfriend!"

He wouldn't have minded the gray-eyed girl liking him like that. But he also knew that if he ever _did _get a girlfriend, she might inherit the same treatment he got from the villagers. So he kept his interactions with the girls to a minimum; barring the occasional beatings from Sakura-chan, of course.

Warai was pissed for two reasons. One, the boy by the swings ruined a perfectly sweet and genuine moment. Two, she didn't want to admit to herself that it was a perfectly romantic moment. Her childish side broke through and she let go of Naruto's hand to shake her fists at the boy with the red marks on his cheeks.

"Naruto-kun's right!" she yelled, matching Naruto's volume quite easily. "It wouldn't hurt to learn a few manners, y'know! Now leave us alone. We have things to talk about over lunch!"

Warai grabbed Naruto's wrist and marched out of the playground, fully expecting Iruka to follow along. She was hungry and her feet hurt. She wanted lunch and she wanted it sitting down. She didn't notice that everyone stared at her in shock. Usually, the only children who agreed with the blonde were his friends.

"Eh?" Naruto asked as he trotted to keep up with her angry stride. "Warai-chan do you know where you want to eat?"

The question startled her and she stopped in the middle of the street. Iruka bumped into the kids and she found herself wrapped in Naruto's arms. The blondes blushed and jumped back a few feet. Iruka laughed nervously at the identical looks of embarrassment on their faces. Well, that's how it sounded to the two children. In fact, it was the chuckle of a born matchmaker. If Naruto was a few years older, then he'd run as fast as he could from the teacher.

"Why don't we go to Ichiraku?" the chuunin suggested. "We can talk about Hyoro-san's situation while we eat." Naruto's eyes brightened and lit from within. Warai couldn't help but smile at the joy in the blue orbs.

"Ramen!" he yelled.

"What's ramen?" Warai asked. Naruto's eyes widened further, but this time in disbelief. He grabbed the girl's wrist and began tugging her to the stand.

"You've got to try it!" he said. "We'll get you a huge bowl of miso ramen. That's the best way to start!" Warai kept up with him despite the pain in her feet, but Iruka noticed the dull shadows in her eyes. He'd ask her about it later.

"Naruto!" the chuunin said. "I don't have enough money for three bowls. You and Warai will have to share." The matchmaker in his mind rubbed his hands in glee.

"Ah, Iruka-sensei! It's ramen!" Naruto whined. He looked over at Warai and she could tell he thought about whether or not to complain further. He made his decision when her head tilted and she sniffed a few times. Her eyes began to glow and her mouth began to visibly water at the intoxicating smell.

"It's okay," he nodded. "I'll share with you, Warai-chan."

Iruka slid onto a stool and calmly ordered the ramen. Inside, he danced a jig in joy, completely ignoring the fact that his inner chibi was wearing a kilt. Now if he could convince Warai to live with the boy. He didn't think of what could happen when they were older. All he could see was Naruto's smiling face as he held Warai in his arms and Warai's small blush when he bowed over her hand.

The teacher also forgot that the two people he wanted to match up were only eight.

"Mmmm…" Warai murmured when she slurped up the noodles. "Naruto-kun, it's so good!"

Naruto grinned at her and took some noodles of his own. He didn't eat as fast as he usually did. He wanted his companion to get as many of the good parts as possible. He expertly picked up a piece of shrimp and chomped down.

_As many doesn't mean all, _he laughed to himself.

Soon only the soup remained and Naruto looked at the blonde girl in question.

"You can have the rest, Naruto-kun," Warai offered.

She could tell that he didn't eat enough and felt humbled by the fact that he shared his favorite food with her. Something told her that that didn't happen often. Her foot hit the bar and she winced in pain. She didn't think anyone noticed—it was a very _small _wince—but both Iruka and Naruto looked at her in concern.

"All you alright, Hyoro-san?" Iruka asked.

"Please call me Warai, Iruka-sensei," she laughed. "Hyoro-san is so formal."

"Ne, Warai-chan, what's wrong?" Naruto wondered, wiping his mouth with his arm.

"I ran for two days to get here and my feet hurt," she admitted.

Naruto's jaw dropped, showing some half-chewed noodles, and he turned his gaze to Iruka. "Didn't you rest in the hotel or something before finding me?" he asked. "Why _did _you find me anyway?"

"That's what we wanted to talk to you about, Naruto," Iruka said. He stood and paid for the ramen, then picked Warai up in his arms. He ignored her protests as his arm slid under her knees and supported her back. "Come on, we'll go to the lake and tend to Warai's feet while we tell you."

He nodded and followed his sensei to the small lake near the playground. The trio walked onto the small pier and sat down at the end. Iruka gently took off the girl's sandals and tried not to wince at the bloody mess her feet were in. Even with soldier pills, running from the border of Wave Country all the way to Konoha was rough going. The pill may have given her the energy to perform the task, but it didn't do any favors for her feet.

"Naruto," the chuunin said softly. "Go to the hospital and ask for a med kit—say that it's for me. Hurry." Naruto nodded and took off. Iruka cleaned the wounds as best as he could. He told Warai to hang her legs off the side of the pier to soak her feet. They were sitting there when Kakashi and Sasuke found them.

"Yo," the gray-haired man said. "Did Hyoro-san meet Naruto yet?"

"Yes, she did," Iruka answered. "Naruto went to get some bandages for Warai's feet."

"What happened?" Kakashi said.

"I pushed myself to hard to get here," Warai responded. She turned and carefully placed her feet on the wooden planks. She noticed the ninja tilted his hitai-ate over his Sharingan eye and realized that he probably kept it a secret. Considering he wasn't an Uchiha and the fact that he couldn't turn it off, she figured that the forehead protector staved off unwanted questions. She moved her gaze to the boy with Kakashi and immediately found him attractive.

The boy had blue-black hair with long bangs that spiked up in the back. She wondered if all of the children in this village had hair that defied the laws of nature and shrugged. Dark onyx eyes stared at her emotionlessly. As gorgeous as the boy looked, Warai felt a cold aura around him. The aura carried the hint of a possible cruel streak in the Uchiha and more than a hint of selfishness. Her initial attraction faded as the look in his eyes changed from sad to arrogant.

"Hyoro Warai, meet Uchiha Sasuke," Kakashi introduced the two. Sasuke ran his gaze over the girl and Warai bristled. When Naruto did the same thing, she knew he was simply curious. When the Uchiha did it, she felt like he was weighing and measuring her worth.

"Hello, pleased to meet you," she said, willing to give him a chance.

"Hn."

_Why you son of a—_

Naruto's arrival interrupted her less than ladylike thought and brought everyone's attention back to her feet. Iruka took the kit and began to thoroughly clean the wound. When she hissed in discomfort, Kakashi gently held her legs down and Naruto sat behind her.

"You can squeeze my hand if it hurts too much," he offered.

Sasuke just stood with his hands in his pockets and looked over the lake.

Finally, Iruka stood up and held her shoes in his hands. "Kakashi-senpai and I will clean your shoes and find you some soft slippers, Warai. Why don't you tell Sasuke and Naruto what's going on? They might take the news better from you anyway."

Kakashi looked at the chuunin in question, but a shake of his head told him that Iruka wouldn't tell him a thing. He shrugged and followed the man back to the shore.

"What are they talking about?" Sasuke asked, bored. "That jounin just came to my house and told me to follow him. I could be training right now."

Warai frowned. "That jounin—as you call him—just followed the orders given to him. The Hokage wanted me to meet you two."

"Why?"

"It's because we're all orphans, right?" Naruto asked softly. He didn't move from his seat behind Warai and she turned to look at him. Sasuke stared at him as well. He didn't think the blonde had the intelligence to piece the facts together like that. Especially since the Uchiha just realized it himself.

"How?"

"Your eyes are sad," Naruto said, seriously. "And I've never seen you here before."

"What does that have to do with me?" Sasuke asked.

"The old man wants me to live with one of you," Warai said, looking at the boys for their reactions. Naruto looked thoughtful, while Sasuke looked like he just didn't care. "But I want to get to know you guys before I make a decision like that. After all, it'll be a girl living with a boy unsupervised, mostly."

"What do you want to know?" Naruto wondered. "I don't know if I snore and I won't hog the blankets, I think."

Warai giggled. "Can you tell me how you became orphans?" she asked, seriously. They might as well get the depressing stuff over and done with. "If you don't mind?"

"Well, I've always been alone," Naruto said, smiling. He rubbed the back of his head and looked up at the sky. "I never had parents. Just old man Hokage and lately Iruka-sensei."

"So you've always lived alone?"

"Yeah," he responded. "None of the villagers wanted to adopt me, but I'm fine with that. I can take care of myself."

Warai's heart went out to the boy, as well as her respect. She noticed the looks the villagers gave him and remembered that Iruka had to specifically order the blonde to give his name at the hospital so that they would give him the med kit. Something was wrong with the way people acted in this village and she just _knew_ that Naruto was a key player in the whole thing.

Some of the looks they gave Naruto were downright _malicious._

"What about you, Sasuke?" Warai asked the silent boy.

Sasuke looked down into her gray eyes. "You'll probably hear it from someone else, so I won't tell you," he said coldly. "Why don't you just live with the _dobe_? I don't want a female in my place." With that said, he turned and climbed the stairs to the pathway.

"Don't mind him," Naruto tried to laugh off the uncomfortable atmosphere the Uchiha's leaving created. "He's always been a bit snooty, but it got worse ever since…"

"He became an orphan," she finished. Warai shifted until she faced Naruto and looked down at her hands. "Since you told me about you, I'll tell you about me."

Naruto nodded and cursed Sasuke-teme for leaving so soon. Being moody all of the time seriously made the boy hard to deal with, at least in Naruto's biased way of thinking.

Warai drew in a breath and said in a rush of words, "Pretty recently, some elite shinobi started an uprising in Kirigakure and many people died. My entire clan got killed in the battle. Before she died, my mother ordered me to run here. So here I am."

"You're the only one left?" Naruto asked, shocked. The similarity to Sasuke's story startled the boy. Now he _really _wished the bastard didn't leave when he did.

Warai made an affirmative noise and looked at Naruto. "Naruto-kun, about Sasuke…will you tell me what happened? I have a feeling he won't talk to me anytime soon and if you know, then it might not be a big secret or something."

"Well, the Uchihas were a small clan here. But they were tight-knit," he began. Thanks to his eavesdropping skills, Naruto knew more of the story than most of the kids did. As badly as he wanted to revert back to his joking, _baka _personality, he felt that the girl with the gray eyes deserved to know. After all, she had the same look in her eyes that Sasuke did.

"They ran the police force here for years and years. I even had a few visits from them for, ah, certain things," he joked. He didn't mention that those 'certain things' revolved around shinobi and civilians plotting to kill or hurt him. He didn't know why they plotted or why the police always came to protect him when those times came. He just knew that since the massacre, he had to lock every door and window three times to sleep at night.

"They were prestigious?" she asked. "Well liked in the village?" Warai knew that he wasn't telling her everything, but she knew enough about the Uchiha Clan—or rather, the politics of clans with a _kekkei genkai_—to understand some of it. Most villages treated those clans like royalty.

"Yeah…" Naruto said. He looked at the water and sighed. He knew that he should just quit stalling and tell her. "One night, Uchiha Itachi betrayed the clan and killed everyone except Sasuke."

Warai stilled. Someone massacred Sasuke's entire clan and left him as the only survivor. Someone massacred _her _clan and she was the only survivor. They were the same.

"That's why he's like that," she said. "That's why he's cold."

"Everyone wanted to help him. He's really well liked in the village. I wanted to help him, too," Naruto admitted. "We're both orphans. The Hokage said that we could help each other. The loneliness isn't as bad when you have someone to share it with. Did you know that Iruka-sensei is an orphan too? He told me once during a detention I got for this really good prank I did. Since then we've been friends, sort of. I've calmed down a lot thanks to him."

Warai snorted at that statement, but Naruto just smiled. "I have," he insisted. Then he sobered and looked down at his hands. "But Sasuke didn't want help. He just stayed quiet and became moody. Before he trained hard because he wanted to catch up to his brother. Now he trains hard because he wants to avenge his clan and kill his brother."

"His _brother_ murdered the clan?" she gasped. Naruto stood up and wiped the dirt from his pants. He looked over his shoulder and frowned.

"Yeah…at least that's what the old man said," he whispered, distraction evident in his voice. His nostrils flared and his eyes closed. Naruto's head came up sharply and tilted in a questioning manner. He reminded her of a fox she once caught in the orchard back home.

"I'm sorry, but I've got to go. If you want to stay at my place, ask Iruka-sensei or the old man where I live. I'll talk to you later, okay, Warai-chan?" He didn't wait for her answer. Warai blinked at the space he once stood. Then a group of men ran noisily down the path carrying clubs.

"Where'd that monster go?" one of them yelled.

"The nurse at the hospital said he asked for a med kit and mentioned something about the lake," another answered.

"If he's hurt then we can get rid of him easily!" the first one said. The other men cheered and Warai's eyes narrowed at the bloodlust in their voices. Her eyes flashed blue once and the water of the lake became turbulent for a few seconds. She closed her eyes and tried to calm herself, but it didn't work.

Warai bit her lip until it bled and used the pain to focus her thoughts. No matter how bad they sounded, she couldn't harm them. She didn't know the whole story. If Sasuke's cold attitude didn't decide things for her, the men's conversation sure did.

Kakashi and Iruka came to the pier and saw that the usually placid lake now churned and frothed as if in a storm. Iruka held a small bag with Warai's shoes as well as clothes and other things a girl might need. Kakashi held a pair of soft soled, silk lined slippers. They were a gift from him just as the clothes were a gift from Iruka.

"Are you okay, Warai?" the chuunin asked. Warai turned to look at them and Iruka stepped back at the deep blue color of her eyes. He thought her eyes were gray, not ocean blue.

"I'll live with Naruto," she said. Her eyes lightened to ice blue and the temperature dropped five degrees. "He needs more help than the Uchiha."

Iruka's eyebrows furrowed at the announcement. Kakashi just nodded and handed her the slippers. They both shivered from the unusual cold.

"You might want to control your bloodline limit and wipe the blood from your chin before we head to Naruto's," he said, lazily holding a handkerchief to her in one hand and an orange book in front of his face with the other. "There are a few kids and villagers in the park who might think you're some kind of demon if your eyes keep flashing like that."

She growled, but took the piece of fabric anyway. If the men came by Naruto's tonight, then she could hurt them without worrying about the consequences too much. The thought brought her a measure of comfort and she controlled herself. Now she almost wished they _would_ come and attack the boy so that she could pound the shit out of them.

"The worst kind of demon is the one who looks completely human," she snarled.

Both men silently agreed with her.

**

* * *

A/N:**

Naruto's a bit OOC in this, but it's been established that he was always more serious than he let on when he was younger. (Flashbacks/Inner Monologue during the Sasuke Retrieval Arc or even the time he snapped at Inari during the Country of Wave mission)

I'm not sure if this will be WaraixNaruto or WaraixSasuke or another combination altogether.


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: **Second verse, same as the first.

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* * *

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Chapter Four

Laughter echoed through the village as the blonde nuisance named Uzumaki Naruto ran over the rooftops and evaded at least four jounin with ease. He casually tossed the paint can he held over his shoulder and smirked at the sound of one of his pursuers yelling in indignation. Now that he was free of the cumbersome object, his speed increased and the game of chase was on for real. He hid behind a cloth that looked like a piece of fence and chuckled when the stampede of feet signaled that he won the current match.

"Uzumaki: 649, Konoha Shinobi: 128," he laughed. Suddenly, a hand descended from nowhere and smacked the twelve-year-old upside the head. He face planted onto the hot concrete and felt an icy aura behind him along with the familiar chakra of his sensei. He tensed and cautiously turned around. A girl his age with dark blonde hair and gray eyes stood there with her hands on her hips and a scowl on her face. He shook with terror when he saw her eyes flash ice blue once.

"What are you doing out of class, Naruto-baka?" she demanded.

"Ne, Warai-chan's out of class too," Naruto pointed out.

Iruka shook his head at the boy's foolishness and mentally counted down.

_3…2…1…_

**BANG!**

"Iruka-sensei pulled me from class to help look for you, you baka!" Warai yelled, her hand still shaking in a fist above the boy's head. A small bump joined the first in the golden hair and Naruto tenderly rubbed the sore spot.

"Well, you found me. Now what are you gonna do?" he asked. Warai ignored him and grabbed the back collar of his hideous orange jacket. She dragged him off, ranting about missing Kurenai-sensei's lecture on genjutsu. Naruto personally thought he did her a favor, but wisely kept his mouth shut for now.

Iruka remained silent, but followed the two pre-teens. He never gave up his matchmaking for the couple, but he sometimes despaired over Naruto's lack of maturity and height. Oh, but the boy was short for his age. Warai was still taller than him by a good five centimeters. He heard the sound of her fist hitting Naruto's abused skull once more and smiled.

"Naruto: 3, Warai: 548," he chuckled.

* * *

"Alright!" Iruka yelled to the senior class of Academy students. "Thanks to Naruto, you'll all have a pop quiz on _Henge no Jutsu! _(Transformation Technique)"

The group of twenty-eight children groaned in disgust and some sent furious looks at Naruto. It wasn't that _Henge_ was a hard jutsu to master—everyone knew that they would pass easily, even Naruto—it was just that Iruka-sensei promised to teach them one last jutsu before the graduation test tomorrow. Now they wouldn't have time to learn it.

"Haruno Sakura!" Iruka yelled out.

Warai's observation that Konoha contained people whose hairstyles defied all of nature's laws proved true as the years passed and she met more of the village's inhabitants. So far, she met a boy with pineapple hair (Shikamaru), a boy whose head looked like a scouring pad for dishwashing (Shino), a shy Heiress with a head of midnight blue hair (Hinata), a blonde hedgehog (Naruto), a chicken-butt (Sasuke), and the cotton-candied wonder who currently made her way to the front of the line of students.

That list only contained kids from her class. The gray-eyed girl felt waves of terror overcome her at the thought of all of the people she still hasn't met.

She watched as the annoying pink-haired girl stood before the teacher and transformed into his replica. After she returned to normal, Sakura turned to Sasuke and asked him if she did alright. Warai rolled her eyes at the whiny quality of her voice. She didn't understand why all of the girls in the class drooled over the Uchiha. Sure, his physical attractiveness knew no bounds, but his attitude sucked ass.

As if to prove her inner statement true, Sasuke lazily walked over when Iruka called his name and muttered, "Henge!" in a bored tone of voice. When the smoke cleared, a sullen Iruka stood with his hands in his pockets. Warai thought the pout wasn't exactly Iruka's style and felt relieved when Sasuke returned to normal.

"Uzumaki Naruto!"

Warai watched her roommate of four years walk up to Iruka. She heard Ino, another blonde girl, and Shikamaru, the pineapple head, say something to him and noticed his "I-don't-care-what-you-think" slouch. She sighed and started rubbing her temple. After four years, she could read Naruto's body language perfectly. He was planning something and she cracked her knuckles in preparation.

"HENGE!"

An overly large puff of smoke filled the room and everyone's eyes widened when it cleared enough to reveal Naruto. Warai choked back a scream when she realized that her roommate transformed into a busty, blonde girl with her hair up in pigtails. More accurately, he transformed into a _naked _busty, blonde girl with her hair up in pigtails. Iruka took one look and flew back from the force of his nosebleed. He recovered almost immediately to reprimand the boy, but Warai beat him to it.

**"NARUTO-BAKA!"** she screamed. Her hands went to her kunai pouch and pulled out as many kunai and shuriken she could get. Naruto was back to his original self, laughing his ass off at the look on Iruka-sensei's face, when he felt the killer intent coming from behind him. He turned and saw Warai—armed to the teeth.

_Oh, shit…_he thought. _Maybe I should have picked a different hairstyle. _

Naruto looked from the sharp, sharp, _sharp _objects in his roommate's hands and to the two dark-blonde pigtails she kept her hair in. Warai's hair wasn't as bright blonde as Naruto's henge, but the similarity didn't go unnoticed by the class. The boys now stared at her with speculation and interest in their eyes. The girls collectively looked angry and embarrassed on her behalf.

No one looked away or stopped her as Warai decided to use Naruto for target practice for the next half hour. The boys admired her technique and the girls offered their own weapons when she ran out of projectiles. Iruka decided to help Warai fix the slight weakness he saw in her left hand once class finished.

_She might sprain her wrist if she keeps flicking it like that…_

* * *

"Ne, Iruka-sensei," Naruto complained. "Why do I have to do this now?"

"Because we can't leave the Hokage Monument defaced in such a manner overnight," Iruka murmured, reading over some papers from the sophomore Academy students. He sat on the Sandaime's now clean eyebrow, using a small amount of chakra to keep from falling off.

"But I'm injured." His wounds already healed hours ago, but Naruto decided to complain on the principle that injured people shouldn't work. His comment fell on the deaf ears of his teacher. He sighed as he heaved a heavy bucket of water onto the plank next to him and washed the paint from the Sandaime's forehead. Thank god he used water-based paint.

"That's your own fault, baka," Warai said from her perch on the Yondaime's bottom lip. She took the strawberry lollypop Iruka gave her out of her mouth and pointed it at Naruto. "You _had_ to come up with that henge. You couldn't pick another girl to emulate."

"I just chose your hairstyle," he muttered. "The person I actually based it on was Kurenai-sensei." Normally, Naruto would play dumb and pretend not to know the meaning of the word 'emulate.' But he was with his two favorite people in the world and couldn't do it.

"Are you saying that Warai-chan isn't attractive enough for your _Oiroke no Jutsu _(Sexy Technique)?" Iruka asked, proving he was actually paying attention to the conversation. In fact, he waited eagerly for the boy's response.

If he said that Warai was sexy enough, then the chuunin had evidence that Naruto felt an attraction for his roommate and he'd be entertained before he took them out to dinner. If he said that she wasn't, then Iruka could watch Warai beat Naruto up for the third time today and he'd be entertained before he stopped the fight and took them out to dinner.

The scarred man saw no downside to this situation.

"Warai-chan is pretty enough," Naruto answered, scrubbing hard at the paint even though most of it was already gone. "But I don't want to use her body for something like _that._ That's kinda gross and wrong."

"That's sweet, Naruto-kun," Warai said, finished with her lollypop. "But thanks to your choice in hairstyles, everyone thinks that you _did _base it on me."

Naruto sighed and closed his eyes. He knew that and felt sorry for it. But Warai was back to calling him 'Naruto-kun' so he knew she wasn't mad anymore.

"I'm sorry, Warai-chan," he whispered. He felt her arms come up and hug him. He turned around and buried his head in the crook of her neck. She always smelled like strawberries. Iruka's inner chibi matchmaker clapped at the sight and began printing up wedding invitations.

"Looks like you're finished, Naru-kun," she said, stroking his hair. "Iruka-sensei promised us ramen for dinner." Naruto's head came up and they both stared at the chuunin in expectation. Iruka put his papers away and sighed.

"Let's go, guys," he sighed in defeat and led the way down to the ramen stand.

_I planned on feeding them anyway_, he thought. _Why do they always have to look at me with those eyes?_

If the duo ever found out the power they wielded to persuade anyone with their cute puppy-dog eyes, then the village was screwed. Even Morino Ibiki mentioned the wallop the look had on him and he was a work-roughened interrogations officer and self-proclaimed sadist. The man admitted to buying a set of kunai for Warai when she turned her gray eyes onto him the last time he visited the weapons shop. The instance was only one of many others that the small group of elite jounin ordered to unobtrusively watch the orphans of the village—including Sasuke—experienced.

Since the group included warriors such as Hatake Kakashi, Sarutobi Asuma, Yuuhi Kurenai, Shiranui Genma, Morino Ibiki, Mitarashi Anko, Gekko Hayate, and Namiashi Raido, the power of Warai and Naruto's puppy-dog stares was virtually unrivalled.

Warai and Naruto followed the chuunin down the Mountain and smirked at each other.

"Oi, Wa-chan," Naruto whispered, rubbing his arm and making sure that Iruka couldn't hear them. "The kunai you used on me today were new, right? When'd ya get them?"

She took out one of her new knives and caressed it with the affection normal twelve-year-old girls gave their dolls or make-up sets. "Morino-san bought them for me," she said.

The shinobi ordered to watch them were never obvious about protecting them, they wouldn't be elite jounin otherwise, but it surprised the duo how easy it was to manipulate them. It was too bad that Sasuke didn't care to join their little group. Warai was sure that if the Uchiha combined his sullen looks and pouts with her and Naruto's puppy-dog eyes, they could con the entire village into doing their bidding.

Even the vendors who hated the sight of Naruto caved a bit when the blonde turned wide ocean blue eyes on them. If Warai happened to be with him, then the vendors practically _threw _the food at the two orphans.

"Think they'll ever figure out the secret of the_ Look_?" Naruto wondered. He referred, of course, to the soulful gaze they used mercilessly.

"Not a chance in hell, Naru-kun," she replied, smiling when she caught Asuma-sensei and Kurenai-sensei watching them from the dango shop. "Not a ding-dong chance in hell."

* * *

"Y'know this is going to be the third time you're taking the test, Naruto," Iruka noted while both blondes inhaled their ramen. "Are you going to pass this time or what?"

"Maybe," he said, wiping his mouth with his sleeve. Warai sighed and handed him a napkin. "Are _bushins_ going to be on the test again?"

"You know I can't tell you that."

"That's a yes, Naru-kun," Warai translated as she took his last fish cake.

"Hey!" Naruto yelled. "That's mine!"

"I don't understand why you insist on taking the exam every year," the chuunin wondered. "You weren't ready the first time and the second time you were a mess."

"I'll graduate this time for sure!"

"What makes you say that?" Warai asked after she finished her soup. She then held out her bowl and yelled. "More please!"

"Same here, ojii-san!" Naruto held up his bowl and turned to face Iruka. "I'll graduate this year because Wa-chan's _finally_ taking the test. I don't want her to become a genin before me! I need to beat Sasuke-teme, too. Just watch, I'll be Hokage someday."

"Uh-huh, me too," Warai teased. "Right after I marry Sasuke."

A gasp sounded from behind the trio and they turned to find Sakura and several other Sasuke fangirls.

"I _knew _it!" the pink-haired girl shrieked. "I just knew you liked Sasuke-kun! Just wait, Hyoro-san, I'll graduate and get placed on Sasuke's team before you can even talk to him!"

Warai smirked. "Why would I want to talk to that teme?" she asked.

"B-but you said…" Sakura stuttered.

"I haven't had a decent conversation with him since he asked me to move in with him," she continued. Naruto guffawed when the jaws of all of the girls hit the floor. "I had to decline, of course. Naru-kun would miss me terribly if I moved out."

"If you moved, then who would make me breakfast every morning, Wa-chan?" Naruto added, slinging his arm over the girl's shoulders. He placed his mouth near her ear and—to the girls—it looked like he was kissing it. In reality, he whispered, "You're twisting the truth, Wa-chan, but if it messes with them, I'm all for it!"

"You _live _together?" Sakura asked.

_No wonder he knew what a naked girl looks like, _she thought.

**_Hyoro-san's body is way more mature than mine, _**Inner Sakura complained. **_I'll never let that tramp get Sasuke-kun. NEVER!_**

The trio on the stools stared at the blank look in Sakura's eyes as she continued to argue with her inner self. Iruka paid for their dinner and Warai and Naruto got their ramen to go. They left the girl where she was—she'd eventually get cold and go home.

* * *

"Ne, Naruto-kun," Warai said as they climbed the stairs to their tiny apartment. "Did you fail those tests on purpose so that we could graduate together?"

Naruto opened the door and placed the take-out boxes on the table. "Maybe," he said, again he found he couldn't completely lie to her. "But you know how I suck at _bushin no jutsu._"

"That's a big pile of Akamaru doo-doo," she argued. "You make _bushins _whenever you want to pull a prank on the village. You make one and then use _henge _to get away, don't think that I haven't noticed."

Naruto couldn't think of an excuse to give the girl and merely shrugged. Warai knew she wouldn't get any information from him he wasn't willing to give and left it at that for now. She walked into the bathroom after grabbing her pajamas, fully intending on taking a shower. Naruto simply stood in their small kitchen and rubbed his hands over his eyes. Acting cheerful and clueless all of the time was more draining than people thought.

The picture of a man with pale hair along with slightly cruel and shady eyes flashed before Naruto's eyes and he stared at the corner that held their rolled up futons. Mizuki had his eye on the blonde boy for a while now and Naruto couldn't help but think that he had plans for him. He was curious to see how things progressed.

He was so engrossed in his thoughts, that he didn't hear the shower turn off or notice the fact that Warai's horrible singing suddenly stopped and the sound of the hair dryer took over.

When he told the old man about Mizuki's interest three years ago, the Hokage told Naruto to act as normally as possible and to meet everyone's expectations of him. "Meeting everyone's expectations" translated to "act as the village fool" and Naruto didn't mind playing the part. He had the intelligence to know that the villagers were far more worried about an _intelligent demon _in their midst than a _fool of a demon _creating occasional havoc.

Just as he knew that they preferred his interest in the average, first-generation ninja: Haruno Sakura.

They would never tolerate the so-called demon setting his romantic sights on a kunoichi of Hyoro Warai's talents, despite the fact that she had no family to speak of and was also a first-generation ninja. He didn't tell his roommate any of this, of course. If she knew how deep and true his affections for her went and didn't return them, then things would get awkward between them.

Naruto didn't deal too well with awkward. Hate and anger he could deal with, but awkward made him feel weird and itchy.

"Naru-kun…Naruto!" Warai waved her hand in front of his face and frowned. She could tell the other blonde was deep in thought. There were only two expressions in his vast library of masks and façades that truly worried her.

The first being the overly bright smile and obnoxious laugh he brought out when one of the villagers' comments _really_ got to him. The second was the serious look he had on his face right now. It made his blue eyes darken and the glow the orbs held in them died a bit. His teeth gnawed on his bottom lip and he unconsciously cracked his knuckles in frustration.

She placed a cool hand on his shoulder and watched as he stiffened and turned. She didn't have to say anything; he already knew her question when he looked into her gray eyes. Naruto patted her hand gently and grabbed his own pajamas. He shook his head at her and indicated that she should go to sleep while he took his own shower.

Warai rolled out their futons and on impulse pushed them closer together than normal. If she "accidentally" rolled over in the middle of the night and snuggled closer to Naruto, then no one could blame her, right? She always felt cold in the middle of the night no matter how many blankets she piled on top of her body.

Naruto's body was practically a furnace.

The blonde girl lay down and closed her eyes. When Naruto came out of the shower, she was already asleep. He smiled at her and pushed their futons even closer together. He was always felt too hot and the girl cooled his body and eased the nightmares that plagued him on a nightly basis.

He knew that she would wake up at the same time he did and move away before he could say a word. It was a ritual they had. He lay down on the futon and stared at the ceiling. He needed to sleep. He had an awful feeling that he would need the rest.

**

* * *

A/N:**

So what do you guys think? Please tell me.


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer:** I don't claim ownership of the characters of Naruto. Hyoro Warai is mine though.

* * *

**Chapter Five**

Naruto woke up when the sunlight hit his face. Although many thought him to be the type to laze around in bed, the reality was that he was an extremely light sleeper. He guessed that it came from years of being on guard for attacks from different villagers. The night Warai came to live with him, a group of men tried to break into the small apartment. He was surprised when his new roommate kicked their collective asses on his behalf. Even now, a few people came by every so often intent on hurting the blonde boy.

When Warai asked why the villagers hated him, Naruto could only shrug his shoulders. He honestly didn't know why, but knew that it had to do with his birth.

Although the girl lying next to him—who, incidentally, hogged every single blanket on _both _of the futons—didn't move a muscle or alter her breathing, Naruto knew the exact moment she woke up. He didn't move either and simply relished the quiet companionship they shared before they slipped into their roles for the day. He was shocked when she broke the silence without pulling away from him first.

"Mizuki-sensei will be watching you today again."

"You noticed?" Naruto whispered, keeping his eyes closed.

Warai turned to face him, even though she kept her eyes shut, and snuggled into his warmth. "I watched you watch him watching you for the past two years," she murmured. "Will you fail again this year?"

"Probably. I'm curious to see what he'll do," he admitted. "But even if I fail the test, the old man will make me a genin."

"How are you so sure?"

"He told me so."

"Okay." Warai pulled the blankets closer to her and sighed. "Naru-kun?"

"Yeah?"

"Let's be late for class today."

"As long as you don't hit me later. Promise?"

Naruto's only answer was a gentle snore.

* * *

"YOU'RE LATE!"

Warai bowed to Iruka and dragged Naruto down with her as well. She tightened her hold on her blue-eyed friend's ear and stared at the floor.

"Naruto-baka forgot to set the alarm last night, Iruka-sensei," she apologized. Naruto whimpered beside her and she focused her chakra to her fingertips. The boy sighed as the soothing sensation of condensed air flowed over his abused earlobe.

_Must be nice to control an element,_ Naruto thought to himself.

"Go sit in your seats," Iruka sighed, rubbing his temple. Beside him, Mizuki smirked and looked at the kitsune out of the corner of his eye.

Naruto noticed the other kids staring at him more than usual and caught the words "live," "together," and "for how long" whispered by most of the girls. When he looked at Warai, she shrugged her shoulders and sat down. He sat next to her and felt glad that she didn't react negatively and slug him; considering all of the gossip flying around was about them.

"We'll call out your name and you will accompany us to the next room," the brown-haired teacher continued. "There, you'll have to complete three jutsus of our choosing. Mizuki-sensei will be the additional proctor. Good luck!"

"Aburame, Shino!" Mizuki called out. The students watched nervously as a tall boy with a large overcoat on followed the teachers out of the room. As soon as the door slid shut behind them, kids started to whisper and talk to each other. Some talked about the exam, but most simply chose to gossip.

"I heard that they've been sleeping together for three years," one particularly loud student whispered to Sakura.

"Well, I heard that they don't do much sleeping, if you know what I mean," another said.

After fifteen minutes of gossip, interrupted by Mizuki or Iruka calling out names and dropping off new genin, Naruto was getting pissed and so was Warai. That last comment broke both of their composures.

"Get your mind out of the gutters!" Naruto yelled to the girls seated around Sakura. He slammed his palms onto his desk and a small crack appeared on the surface of the wood. His pupils became slightly elongated and his blue eyes darkened with anger.

"Naru-kun and I aren't like that!" Warai added. She stood up and her eyes flashed from gray to light blue and back twice. The air in the room immediately became noticeably colder. The students who saw her eyes change color blinked in confusion, but when they looked again, her eyes were the same gray color they always were.

"Then how did he know what a naked woman looks like?" Sakura asked, snidely. "His _henge _yesterday looked an awful lot like you, Hyoro-san."

Naruto brought his hands to his head and dug them into his hair. "I just used her hairstyle!" he yelled. "Besides, I got the visual from some magazines I found in the boys locker room!"

No one heard several of the boys muttering, "So _he's _the one who took them."

"But you live with him," one of the girls said haughtily. "And everyone knows that Naruto doesn't have parents, it's no secret. That's why he lives in that apartment and makes so much trouble. You guys are all alone."

"That's because I'm an orphan too," Warai shot back. "That's not a secret either. When I came here, Hokage-sama gave me the choice of living with Naru-kun or Sasuke. I chose Naruto."

The girls gaped and looked from the blue-eyed blonde to Sasuke and back.

"Why didn't you choose Sasuke-kun?" Ino asked.

"Because I wanted my roommate to have a _personality_," she answered. "Ever hear that looks aren't everything? Sasuke's like a painting, he's so pretty. But you can't have fun with a painting. Naruto's not like that at all."

"Are you calling me ugly, Wa-chan?" Naruto asked, putting on his best pout.

"Shut up and don't look at me like that," she batted her friend on the shoulder. "You know you're as handsome as the Yondaime when you clean yourself up—even if you are short. But you ruin it all since you have the emotional maturity of a four-year-old."

"Hey!"

"Hyoro Warai!"

Warai jerked her head to the doorway and saw that Iruka stood there with a very small smirk on his lips. The chuunin must've heard the last few sentences. Warai turned when Naruto rested his chin on her shoulder and smiled.

"Good luck, Wa-chan!" he said. "I know you'll pass!"

"Will you?" she asked, suddenly nervous for her friend.

"Things will work out," he answered. "Don't worry about me."

* * *

"That's the one who failed," a woman whispered to her friend.

The two women stood in front of the Ninja Academy and smiled at the children who passed this year's exam. As expected, all of the clan heirs who took the exam passed—even the lazy Nara heir. The only person who failed sat on the swing hanging from the old tree directly across from the Academy.

"Serves him right," the second woman said, a sneer on her plain face. "It will only cause trouble if _he _becomes a ninja. After all he's—"

"Shh! You know that speaking about that is forbidden!"

Neither woman noticed when Warai frowned and slipped away from the crowd to follow Naruto and Mizuki.

_Forbidden? _Warai thought to herself as she trailed them.

She heard such remarks every year when Naruto failed his ninja exam. She'd have to be deaf, dumb, and blind to overlook the village's treatment of the blonde boy. The adults acted like he had a disease and mostly stayed away unless Iruka or the Hokage was with him. The children of the village didn't understand the adults' behavior anymore than Naruto did, but they emulated their parents' dislike for him anyway.

_Just what is this village hiding?_

The blonde-haired girl frowned. While she was thinking, Naruto managed to evade her. She decided to go to the Hokage Tower and wait for her best friend there. Whatever Mizuki wanted with Naruto, Warai was sure that he'd tell the Hokage exactly what the man was scheming.

* * *

Warai woke from her doze at the sound of a body hitting the floor and jerked upright. Her back ached from sleeping in the uncomfortable chair the Hokage told her to wait in and her neck cracked when she turned her head. Then the sound of someone chuckling softly reached her ears.

Honed by years of training, both in Wave Country and in Konoha, Warai tumbled soundlessly to the floor and made her way to the Hokage's office. She absently wiped a bead of sweat from underneath her new hitai-ate and mentally noted that she needed to change the ugly blue cloth to a black one as soon as possible. When she got to the doorway, she took out the small hand mirror she always kept with her and saw Naruto pawing through the old man's closet.

The blonde boy was muttering something under his breath and she could see his grin when he found what he was looking for. With a glance at the prone body of the Hokage, Naruto chuckled again and jumped out the open window and into the night.

"Hokage-sama!" Warai ran into the room and checked the vital signs of the man she considered her grandfather. Everything appeared normal and he wasn't hurt anywhere. She saw a trickle of blood coming from his nose and chuckled herself.

_Naruto must've used his_ Oiroke no Jutsu (Sexy Technique) _on the old man, _she thought. _I always thought he was a bit of a pervert._

Now that she knew that the Hokage would be okay, Warai turned and jumped out the window. She followed the other blonde easily and soon caught up with him in a clearing in the forest just outside of the village.

"Naruto," she whispered. "What are you doing?"

"Reading," he answered. Naruto murmured something and slowly went through a few handseals. "Wanna learn some new jutsus?"

At the mention of new jutsus, Warai came closer and read the label on the scroll.

"That's a Forbidden Scroll! Naruto, you _know _you're not supposed to have that!"

Sapphire blue eyes met stormy gray and a golden blonde eyebrow was raised. "The old man said I could learn two jutsus from this thing in exchange for setting Mizuki up," he explained. "If you help, then you can learn two as well."

"Set Mizuki up for what?"

"I'll tell you after we learn these jutsus," Naruto said. "If you learn different jutsus from the ones I'm working on, then we can teach them to each other later. That way we can learn _four _instead two."

Warai knew that reading from the Forbidden Scroll was forbidden—hence the name. But if the Hokage trusted Naruto with it, then she wasn't going to pass up the chance to expand her knowledge.

"Which ones are you gonna choose?" she asked.

"I'm working on _Kage Bushin_ (Shadow Clone) and then I wanna learn more about this _Hiraishin no Jutsu _(Flying Thunder God Technique)," he said, pointing to the two jutsus on the scroll.

Warai looked at the text and frowned. "You'll get the _Kage Bushin_ tonight," she predicted. "But the other one is an X-rank jutsu, Naru-kun. It'll take weeks, if not _months_, to perfect it and we won't have access to the scroll after tonight."

"Lucky that I have this blank scroll with me then, isn't it?"

_"Naruto!"_

_"Warai!"_ Naruto mimicked in a rare show of bad temper. "C'mon, you haven't even read some of the jutsus in here. Find two you really, really, want to learn and if you can't learn it tonight, we'll write it down."

"But we're not supposed to copy the information in there," she whined, trying not to let her thirst for knowledge overcome the edicts taught to her by their teachers.

"They'll make us better ninja," Naruto said, not looking up from his writing.

"But—"

"Would you feel better if we swear only to use the lower ranked jutsus in battle until we become chuunin?" Naruto bargained. He stared at his roommate and sighed. Mizuki would be here soon and he wanted to give her a chance to learn at least one of the jutsus in the scroll.

_Sometimes, she's more rigid than Iruka about the rules,_ he groused.

Warai bit her lip and looked over the scroll. Two jutsus appealed to her. The first was a B-rank jutsu called the _Dokugiri _(Poison Mist) and would be handy in certain situations. The second one was an A-rank jutsu and required the user to know how to create at least three _Kage Bushins_ and be especially gifted in the art of sword fighting.

Since sword fighting was one of Warai's passions, _Mikazuki no Mai _(Dance of the Crescent Moon) was perfect for her. She memorized the seals for the _Dokugiri _as Naruto finished writing down the specifics for his second jutsu and shoved her conscience aside.

"Give me the blank scroll," she barked out. Naruto smirked and stood up to practice his _Kage Bushin._ Warai never could pass up the chance to learn a new jutsu and the blonde knew it. He practiced making a few shadow clones and nodded once he got the hang of it. When he looked over at his friend, she was standing in front of a medium sized cloud of purple mist and had a smirk on her face.

"Mizuki's planning on taking the scroll," Naruto told his partner. "He wants the information in it."

Warai looked down at the scroll and frowned. "We haven't read the entire thing," she commented.

"We don't need to," he insisted. "The old man only said I could learn two jutsus from the first half of the scroll. If you followed me, he said you could learn two as well. But we can't look at the second half. That's an order from the Hokage."

The girl looked at her friend and nodded. Naruto was impulsive, brash, and emotional, but he wouldn't outright betray the old man's trust in him.

"I understand," she said. "Now why did Mizuki choose _you_ to take the scroll?"

"He needed to con someone into taking it and I was the easy choice. He wants the scroll because he wants to learn the jutsus," Naruto shrugged as if the answer was obvious.

"But he doesn't have enough chakra," Warai noted. "Iruka-sensei's a better ninja than him. Hell, _Sakura's _a better ninja than him."

"Yeah…" Naruto trailed off and his head tilted to the right. Warai noted the look and knew that someone was coming their way. "Listen, Iruka-sensei's coming and Mizuki's not far behind. They're gonna expect me to be alone."

She nodded and mock saluted her friend. "I'll be over in that tree," she said. "And I'll be watching your back." Naruto nodded and watched as she bounded into the trees. He took a deep breath and pasted his idiot smile on his face.

_Time to set the trap._

**

* * *

A/N:**

I'm sorry I haven't updated in a while. Things in my family are going insane and I had finals and graduation parties to attend.

Not to mention a huge case of writer's block.


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto. If I did, Haku would be alive. I don't own the song "Baby Mine" from Dumbo either. 

**

* * *

Chapter Six**

"Naruto!" Iruka growled.

Naruto grinned up at the seething man in front of him. He always enjoyed making the veins pop out on his teacher's face and he couldn't be more pleased with the bonus of annoying Iruka in addition to learning new jutsus with the Hokage's permission. He was aware of Mizuki in the trees behind the scarred chuunin and the presence of Warai to his left. Her chakra was masked, but he doubted that Iruka or Mizuki would have noticed her if she was standing next to him.

Their sole focus was on him and the scroll.

"Hiya, Iruka-sensei!" he laughed and rubbed the back of his head. Naruto ignored Mizuki's presence for now and raised hopeful eyes to his mentor. "I was just out here practicing."

Iruka looked at the boy, confused, and planted his fists on his hips. "Practicing?" he asked.

"Yeah! If I can do one of the jutsus in this scroll for you, I automatically pass and graduate from the Academy, right?" Naruto asked innocently. The lie Mizuki used to trick the blonde into stealing the scroll tripped easily off of his tongue.

"Who told you that?" Iruka asked.

"Mizuki-sensei did!" the 12-year-old spread his arms and motioned around the clearing. "He told me about the scroll and this place and said that if I can master one of the jutsus in here, then I can graduate!"

"Mizuki…" Iruka trailed off and suddenly turned around.

Naruto turned as well and saw at least seven kunai heading for them. Before he could move, Iruka pushed him out of the way. He watched in horror as one kunai stabbed his friend in the thigh. The rest surrounded Iruka and, in some places, pinned his clothes to the wall of the cottage behind him.

Naruto couldn't help but notice that a few of the kunais were attached to chakra strings and knew that Warai managed to keep them from hitting their friend and mentor. He was glad that she was not only watching their backs, but knew that she had to stay calm and remain hidden.

Mizuki hadn't confessed to his crimes yet and they couldn't charge the bastard with anything until he did. Any ninja knew that they needed to witness a confession before springing a trap. It was one of the first things they learned in the Academy.

"Mizuki!" Iruka yelled. "What are you doing?"

"Naruto," Mizuki called down in what he probably thought was a soothing voice. "Give me the scroll. Iruka was sent to kill you for taking it."

"What?" Naruto allowed a flash of confusion to cross his face as he looked from one man to the other. He grabbed the strap that kept the scroll attached to his back and frowned.

"Mizuki, be quiet!" Iruka said. "Naruto, don't listen to him. He's lying!"

"Give me the scroll, Naruto! Iruka hates you! He's always hated you!"

"Mizuki, shut up!"

Naruto was disgusted at the lengths the man was willing to go to get the scroll. If Naruto had a little less confidence in himself or Iruka's affection for him, Mizuki's plan might have worked—maybe.

But he had a part to play in this farce, so he would play it to perfection.

"W-what?" he stammered, tears coming to his eyes. Naruto got a bad feeling in his stomach, but kept the act up.

"Do you know why he hates you?" Mizuki taunted. The platinum haired man ignored Iruka's yells and glared at the monster before him. "Do you know the reason why he hates you? There was a law that was made 12 years ago."

"A law?" The bad feeling traveled into his chest and caused his heart to skip a few beats.

"Didn't you ever wonder why everyone in the village despises you?" Mizuki asked. "There has to be a reason."

"Naruto!" Iruka yelled. "Don't listen to him!"

Naruto wanted to obey his sensei—he really did. But after years of being hated without knowing the reason why, the blonde wanted to know. Even if the answer came from scum like Mizuki, he _had _to know. Instinct told him that whatever the man said next would be the truth.

"The reason why Iruka hates you is because you're the Kyuubi no Kitsune!" Mizuki shouted triumphantly. "You're the nine-tailed fox that attacked Konoha and killed Iruka's parents and the Yondaime!"

Naruto felt his body freeze as the man's words registered into his brain. He was aware of Mizuki yelling more at him, but he didn't hear a thing. Suddenly, everything made sense. Every instance of abuse he endured—the beatings, the absolute lack of sympathy or compassion given to him—was justified in that one idea.

The belief that he was the Kyuubi no Kitsune was the reason he lived as close to hell as he wanted to get.

The blonde was knocked out of his trance by Iruka's shout of warning. He looked up and saw the giant shuriken Mizuki had heading for him. Naruto tried to scramble out of the way, but his reflexes were dull and slowed by shock. He didn't notice the thin chakra strings that frantically attached to the weapon and slowed it down a bit. But he did notice when a body suddenly blocked his view of the man who threw it.

Drops of blood fell onto his whisker-scarred cheek and Naruto stared up into the eyes of his teacher.

"Why?" he asked.

"Because we're the same," Iruka wheezed out. "I didn't have parents either—you know that. I played pranks to get people to notice me. My grades weren't good enough, so I decided that if everyone was laughing at the things I did then at least they would see me and notice. We both acted like idiots to get attention."

The shuriken was painful since it was lodged in his back, but not as painful as it should have been. He felt a cool sensation and knew that the cold was slowing the blood around the wound to prevent further blood loss. That meant that Warai was somewhere in the clearing watching them.

"You're lonely," he continued, staring into Naruto's blue eyes. "That's why you act like this. Even with Warai with you, you're lonely."

At the mention of his roommate, Naruto turned his head. His keen eyes found her amid the branches of a tree. Warai's eyes were wide and dark gray. One of her hands was outstretched as if to reach for him while she held the other over her lips. The look in her eyes was close to unreadable, but Naruto knew that shock was one of the emotions in her gaze.

He had to get away.

Naruto refused to listen to anything else the two men wanted to tell him. He just wanted to leave. He sprinted from his position under Iruka and ran as fast as he could away from them, from Konoha, and from Warai.

* * *

Warai crouched on her tree branch and stared in horror as events unfolded before her eyes. She intervened when she could, but she knew better than to jump out and announce her presence to the group in the clearing. When she heard what Mizuki said, she froze just as Naruto did.

She knew about the Kyuubi no Kitsune—every Academy student did. The monster was responsible for many deaths, including the death of the Yondaime, and the reason Sandaime-sama was the Hokage now. There was even an annual school play that they put on for the anniversary of the monster fox's demise. She and Naruto never participated in the play for two reasons.

The first was that they were never invited to be part of the pageant.

The second reason was that the anniversary of Kyuubi's defeat was Naruto's birthday.

Warai snapped out of her shock in time to slow Mizuki's shuriken enough that it didn't kill Naruto. She was surprised when Iruka blocked the weapon with his own body and tried to soothe his wound. When Naruto bolted, she stared at the men for a few more moments. It was Mizuki's ranting that snapped her out of it.

"That baka kitsune will use that scroll against Konoha!" the maniac yelled. "Just like I will once I get my hands on it."

"Mizuki!" Iruka growled from his position on the ground.

"I'll kill you later," the other man called back. _"After _I get the scroll."

A confession and a threat to kill.

That was all she needed to implicate the bastard for his crime. She left the two men to fight between themselves. She had more important things to take care of.

Warai immediately sprang off of the branch and headed towards her panicked friend. She ran faster than she ever had since she came to Fire Country to track Naruto. Both Iruka and the Hokage agreed that she slow her speed down until she became a genin, but she was a genin now and determined to catch up to her friend.

_Baka,_ she thought, as she covered both of their tracks. _If you're not careful, Mizuki will find you before I do._

She found her friend collapsed at the bottom of a tree, cradled by it's gnarled roots, hugging the Forbidden Scroll to his chest like a pillow. Her heart went out to him and she landed softly in front of him. His sobs tore at her and she gently pried the scroll away from him.

"Naruto," she whispered, gathering him in her arms. "Naruto, are you okay?"

"NO!" he gasped. He tried to pull away from her, but she kept her arms tight around him. "How can you hold me? I'm a monster!"

"Shut up," she snapped. Warai sat so that her back was against the tree trunk and Naruto was leaning against her. She ran her hand down his soft, golden blonde hair and didn't mind when he cried onto her shirt.

"You're not a monster," she reassured.

"But it makes sense," Naruto gritted through his teeth. "That's why everyone hates me."

"If you were a monster, you would have killed them," Warai calmly stated. "If you were a monster, you wouldn't have stopped me whenever I wanted to kill them."

Naruto stopped crying and snuggled into Warai's body. He knew she was right, but it didn't stop the hurt he felt.

"Everyone knows," he sighed. "Everyone thinks I'm the Kyuubi."

"I don't think so," Warai argued. "If the kids knew, they'd be even meaner to you than they already are. You know that they're only copying their parents. And not _everyone _thinks you're the Kyuubi. What about Nara-san, Akimichi-san, and Inuzuka-san?"

"What about 'em?"

She shook her head and leaned her forehead against Naruto's. "If they thought you were the Kyuubi, I doubt that they would let their kids play with us. As for everyone else…screw 'em. They don't know you and that's their loss."

"But what about Iruka-sensei?" Naruto asked. "He knows me. Kyuubi killed his parents."

The boy's voice was very small at the moment and Warai knew that this was the real reason why Naruto ran and why he was sobbing. She held him closer to her and sighed. The brown-haired chuunin was a surrogate father to both of them and she understood her friend's fear of rejection.

She also understood that nothing she could say would comfort Naruto on this particular matter. Only Iruka could comfort him now and set his mind at ease.

"Are they coming after us?" Naruto asked.

"Not yet," she said, stroking his hair once again. Sometimes she forgot that he was younger than her by seven months. His personality was so brash and loud that she was fooled most of the time. Now she was reminded that—of the two of them—she was the elder and more experienced one.

"Can you sing me that song you sing?" Naruto asked.

Warai knew which one he was talking about and smiled. She just made up the song after Naruto got hurt one day by a group of villagers. Now whenever he was upset, he wanted her to sing or hum that song. She didn't mind doing it. The song was comforting to them both. So she settled herself closer into the hollow they made and held the boy she loved.

_"Baby mine, don't you cry.  
Baby mine, dry your eyes.  
Rest your head close to my heart   
Never to part, baby of mine."_

Naruto buried his face in Warai's neck and sniffed at her strawberry scent. He felt safe in her arms. He always did. Warai smiled and sang the verse she added last year when Sakura was especially bitchy to her little kitsune.

_"Little one, when you play,  
Don't you mind what they say.  
Let those eyes sparkle and shine   
Never a tear, baby of mine."_

She thought of all of the people in the village who hated Naruto and loved Sasuke and when they didn't really know either one and frowned. She despised the villagers who chose the icy Uchiha over Naruto simply because one came from a noble house and the other was a 'monster.' A new verse popped into her mind and she sang softly.

_"If they knew sweet little you   
They'd end up loving you, too.  
All those same people who scold you   
What they'd give just for the right to hold you._

_From your head to your toes   
You're not much, goodness knows   
But you are so precious to me   
Sweet as can be, baby of mine."_

They stayed silent for a moment and Warai looked up when Naruto raised himself to his knees before her. The new verses broke though his sadness and made him smile. He stared into her gray eyes and found love, affection, and acknowledgement. His heart filled as he realized that there was someone who _truly _cared for him. He held her head in his rough hands and softly leaned in to kiss her lips.

The kiss was filled with gratitude, gentleness, innocence, and love.

Warai pulled back and smiled shyly at her friend. "Can I call you 'my kitsune' or 'kit-kun' now?" she asked.

Naruto chuckled and bumped noses with her. "Maybe," he answered.

_Even if Iruka-sensei turns out to hate me, _Naruto thought, _I can survive as long as Warai-chan loves me._

Even as he thought that, two bodies crashed into the clearing behind their tree and fell to the ground. Warai held Naruto as the two adults talked to each other.

"He's the same as me, you know," Mizuki was saying. "He'll use the scroll against the village. Being the Kyuubi, there's no way he won't get his revenge against Konoha now that he has it."

"That's true," Iruka answered back.

Warai felt Naruto tense in her arms and her heart broke along with her boy's as their sensei's words echoed through them.

"I knew it," Naruto whispered. He slung the scroll onto his back and let go of Warai. "I knew he didn't really care for me." Iruka's voice cut through the night air again and Naruto tensed even more.

"_IF_ Naruto were the Kyuubi," the man told his peer. "But Naruto's different. He's not that monster fox who killed my parents. He's loud, obnoxious, hard working, and lives knowing that no one really acknowledges him. But he's also compassionate and knows how to empathize with others. That's why he's not that monster. _That's _what makes him Uzumaki Naruto of Konoha!"

Mizuki stared at Iruka in disgust. "Remember what I said about killing you later?" he asked. He took the last giant shuriken he had and spun it in his hand. "I changed my mind."

Warai and Naruto both swore and moved desperately to save their teacher. Warai created chakra strings to hold onto the shuriken while Naruto kicked the man away from their friend. Warai ran to Iruka and began looking him over for wounds. They both looked up when their blonde friend threatened the other man.

"If you lay one finger on Iruka-sensei, I'll KILL you!" Naruto growled.

Mizuki laughed. "And how will a boy who can't even create a proper _bushin _(clone) kill a chuunin?"

Naruto brought his hands into a cross-like seal and stared at Mizuki coldly. "Whatever pain you gave to Iruka-sensei, I'll pay you back a thousand-fold!"

Iruka gaped as his dead-last student gathered his chakra and focused on his hand seal.

_"KAGE BUSHIN NO JUTSU!"_ (Shadow Clone Technique)

A huge cloudburst blocked everyone's view for a few seconds. When the smoke cleared, the forest was filled with hundreds of Naruto's—all ready for action and all dressed in his orange jumpsuit.

"ARGH!" Warai screamed, covering her eyes. "THE POLYESTER ORANGE HORROR! I'M BLIND!"

Naruto decided to ignore the antics of the object of his affection and made most of his clones taunt the stunned Mizuki. He gave the signal and for the next 10 minutes kicked the man's ass bloody. When the last clone disappeared, Warai looked through her fingers and sighed.

"Thank god, they're gone!"

"Shut up, Wa-chan," Naruto grumbled. He looked over at Iruka and frowned. "Ne, Iruka-sensei, are you okay?" The man did not look his best. Dried blood was on his thigh and over the back of his chuunin vest, leaves were in his hair, and bags were under his eyes.

"I'm fine," Iruka insisted, having answered the same question from Warai three times already. "Oi, Naruto. Come here."

Naruto did as he was told and stood in front of Iruka. When he was told to close his eyes he did. The blonde felt his goggles being removed from his head and another, softer material take its place.

"Iruka-sensei," he said, excitedly. "Can I open my eyes now?"

"Go ahead, Naruto," Warai encouraged.

"Congratulations, graduate!" Iruka told him. Naruto gazed up at his teacher and saw that his hitai-ate was gone. He raised his hand to his forehead and traced the Konoha symbol. He looked over at Warai's beaming face and grinned.

_I'm a genin now,_ he realized. _I have rank and status. No one can push me around anymore!_

Warai hugged him and she turned to Iruka. The teacher smiled at his two blonde students and placed his hands on his hips.

"This calls for Ichiraku ramen!" he said.

The two ninja's eyes became round with wonder and glinted with happiness. The early morning sunlight cast their faces in an angelic glow and Iruka had to say something before they jumped him in glee.

"But first," he said, holding up a finger.

"Awww, Iruka-sensei," Naruto complained. "No lectures, I'm tired!"

"But first," he repeated, raising an eyebrow. "Why don't you tell me why Warai-chan's lip-gloss is on your mouth, Naruto?"

"Eh?" Naruto placed his fingers to his lips and looked down. Sure enough, there were traces of the dark berry lip-gloss Warai always wore on his fingertips. He looked up into Iruka's expectant face and laughed nervously.

"Oh, that!" he said. "It's nothing. Nothing important happened." He knew that it was the wrong thing to say as soon as the words left his lips and he felt the killing intent flowing from the girl beside him.

"Nothing?" Warai snarled. Her eyes flashed ice blue and stayed that way as the temperature drastically dropped around them—and kept dropping. "Nothing _important_? NARUTO-BAKA!"

Iruka laughed and sat down as Warai ran after Naruto. He knew that he should tell them all about the seriousness of being a ninja, but figured that it could wait until after they've all eaten.

Besides, watching an enraged girl throw kunais made of ice at a clumsy blonde boy was way more entertaining.

**

* * *

A/N:**

I hope you like this chapter…I had a blast writing it:)

The song in the middle may have been a bit random, but I know when I'm upset there's this one song that always calms me down. So it makes sense for me to have Naruto have the same reaction.

Oh, thanks, narutoreader for your suggestions! I already was going to do a variation on two of your ideas anyway, so don't worry!

Ja ne!


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer**: Not owning anything of value. i.e. I don't own Naruto. 

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**Chapter Seven**

Naruto sat up and stared at the mini-calendar on the bedside table. Two red circles surrounded the day's date and arrows pointed obnoxiously to the bold number within the red marks. All thoughts of sleeping in left his brain as he realized what today was.

Genin Orientation was today.

The blonde let out a whoop and turned to wake up his roommate only to find her futon neatly folded and against the far wall. He jumped up and began gathering his clothing. He just finished pushing his own mattress against the wall when Warai came out of the bathroom wearing her robe and brushing her long hair.

"Shower's free, Naruto-kun," she said. "Make it quick though, the landlord shut off the hot water again."

Naruto shrugged and slammed the door after he entered the small room. Warai smirked and shook her head. She quickly changed into a pair of black cargo pants that fit snugly around her waist, but loosened as they ran down her legs. She picked a dark blue belt and fastened it around her waist.

She didn't cover her upper half with anything other than her black bikini-top style bra underneath a fishnet tank top. To keep the outfit from looking too risqué, she put on a sleeveless, ankle-length, collarless blue/black coat and buttoned the top five buttons, leaving the coat open from just above her belly button downwards.

She wrapped her kunai holster around her right leg and put on the new, fingerless black gloves with the metal protectors on the backs that she conned Anko into buying for her. She snapped her weapons pouch onto the back of her coat near her left hip and hid a few more weapons on her body.

Although she knew the possibility of getting a mission today was slim to none, she believed in being prepared.

_Now what to do about my hair?_ Warai wondered to herself.

She was used to wearing her waist-length, dark blonde hair in two high ponytails, but ever since Naruto debuted his _Oiroke no Jutsu _(Sexy Technique) she couldn't go out in public without a few guys staring at her in speculation. Warai thought for a moment and decided to simply braid the hair around the crown of her head and let the rest fall wherever.

Warai picked up her forehead protector and smiled. She tied the cloth around her head, underneath the braids she created, and adjusted the metal part over her forehead. She and Naruto traded in the bright blue cloth the metal was attached to for serviceable black. It was one of Warai's favorite colors, and, if she had any say in the matter, one of Naruto's as well.

The sound of the shower turning off alerted Warai and she grabbed the bag she hid in her side of the closet. She knocked on the bathroom door before opening it enough to shove the plastic bag through the space.

"I know you wear orange so that people in the village will look at you," she started, anticipating the boy's objections. "But as a serious ninja, it's career suicide. Now shut up and put those on or I only boil enough hot water for one Cup Ramen."

With that threat hanging in the air, Warai smirked when she heard Naruto sigh in defeat. She headed to their small kitchen/dining room and began to boil water. The kunoichi shook her head when she saw the expired carton of milk on the counter. If it wasn't bad before, then it certainly was now after sitting out all night. It was the beginning of summer and the humidity was positively muggy all day long.

She threw the bad milk out and placed two cups of water next to the Cup Ramen. Warai was about to yell at Naruto to hurry up when he barged out of the bathroom and snatched up his hitai-ate from the dresser they shared. She turned to look at him and was stunned by the change in his appearance.

_Yow!_ Warai drooled slightly. _Note to self: buy Naruto more black clothing and sleeveless shirts._

She couldn't help but notice how mature Naruto looked now that he wasn't covered in head to toe, eye blinding orange. Loose black pants hung off his hips and were held up by a trio of thin orange belts—Warai couldn't help but allow him a few accessories of his favorite color—that criss-crossed each other. A form-fitting black vest/jacket covered his torso and was zipped up to just below his collarbone. The fabric molded to his abdomen and showed the lean body his old jacket once hid. Because of the vest, Warai was gifted with the fine examples of drool worthy candy Naruto called arms.

A part of Warai wanted to joke about Naruto working out much lately. But another larger part just wanted to point out how much he looked like the Yondaime now that he had his hitai-ate on and that serious look in his eyes.

That ramen noodle hanging out of the side of his mouth was especially endearing.

Warai shook her head and noticed that her roommate was avoiding her eyes while he ate. After a few more minutes of silence she slammed her cup on the table.

"What?"

"You look nice," he said, looking at his best friend and then away when he felt his gaze traveling south. A blush turned his normally tanned complexion a dusky hue and Warai smiled shyly.

"You look nice too, Naruto-kun," she said. "Let's get going or we're going to be late."

Naruto jumped up and smiled. He felt kind of weird without his orange jacket, but agreed with Warai that being a ninja and wearing that jumpsuit was suicide. He strapped his kunai holster to his leg, his weapons pouch to his belt, and slipped a pair of cream-colored elbow pads onto his arms. He grinned at his girl and held out a hand.

"Let's go!"

Warai was glad that Naruto didn't let go of her hand when they reached the street. Together they walked quietly to the Academy. If the blonde kitsune noticed the shocked stares of the villagers, he ignored them. No one except for a few chuunins knew about the incident with Mizuki. Besides, the villagers were more surprised by his change in wardrobe and his resemblance to their beloved Yondaime than the fact that he was holding hands with Warai.

_And if anyone has problems with me holding Warai-chan's hand, then they can go screw themselves, _Naruto growled to himself.

After finding out about Kyuubi and letting Warai comfort him, Naruto realized that he loved the girl more than anything and that she loved him back as well. Things were a bit awkward between them since they were still pre-teens and had their whole lives ahead of them, but they talked things out over the past few days and both knew the other's mind on the issue.

The kitsune squeezed his mate's hand and grinned when she squeezed back.

* * *

"Oi," a bored voice called out. "Naruto, you _do _know that this meeting's only for graduates, right?" 

Warai and Naruto looked over at Shikamaru and grinned.

"Look at this forehead protector, Shikamaru!" Naruto crowed. "I did graduate!"

Whatever the boy might've said was halted by the appearance of Sakura and Yamanaka Ino. The two girls ran through the classroom door screaming something about a goal and Warai leaned over Naruto's shoulder to whisper something into his ear.

A flush overcame his features and he glanced at the two girls by the door. Warai's comment echoed in his mind and he swallowed a laugh. He craned his neck and saw that she was correct: the banner from the fishmonger's stall was stuck to both Sakura and Ino's feet. He wondered how long it would take before they got tangled in the plastic material and fell over.

**_BOOM!_**

"That didn't take long," Warai murmured.

Naruto kept himself from laughing and noticed that Sasuke smirked a bit from his seat at their desk near the window. That small movement managed to remind Naruto that the Uchiha was still human beneath his layers of cold, emotionless, bastard-ism.

Sakura looked over in their direction and smiled. Naruto froze and swore to himself. _Here we go, _he thought.

"Sasuke-kun!" the pink-haired girl called out. Warai barely kept herself from covering her ears to protect her from the whiny call of the fangirl. "Can I sit next to you?"

Everyone turned to the Uchiha, who simply ignored the girl.

"No," Ino butted in. "I won the race and got into the classroom first, so I get to sit next to Sasuke-kun!"

"If that's the case," another girl stated. "Then _I _get to sit next to Sasuke-kun!"

Warai frowned and looked down at her own seat. "Actually," she raised her hand and her voice to get the attention of the other girls. "I'm _already _sitting next to the Uchiha and I don't feel like moving. Find some other seats, girls."

Warai gasped as multiple hands grabbed her and unceremoniously dumped her out of her seat and onto the hard floor.

"HEY!" she shouted. No one paid any attention to her, with the exception of Shikamaru, who asked if she was okay, and Naruto, who growled at the fangirls and Sasuke. He seethed for several moments and when he realized that the bastard wasn't even going to glance to see if Warai was okay, he jumped on top of the desk and glared at the Uchiha.

"What's your problem, Uzumaki?" Sasuke asked in a low voice.

"My problem is that you're fangirls hurt Warai, _Uchiha_," he growled.

Sasuke raised an ebony eyebrow. "And I should care because…"

"Apologize to Warai-chan now!"

"No."

The two boys glared at each other and would have gone on glaring if the student in the row in front of them didn't choose that moment to stretch his arms and knock Naruto off balance. The blonde teetered for a moment before he fell forward and—because of the close proximity of one Uchiha Sasuke—locked lips with the object of his animosity.

Silence reigned in the classroom as everyone registered what just happened.

Warai broke the silence with a loud laugh and the two boys broke away from each other, gagging. Naruto felt the killing intent from the girls gathered around them and silently pleaded with Warai to help him. She just kept laughing and pointing at the still gagging Uchiha.

**"NARUTO!"**

_Crap,_ he thought. _I'm gonna die._

* * *

Kakashi stared at the scene through the Hokage's crystal ball and winced behind his mask. Despite all of his efforts to wriggle out of it, he was chosen to test a team of genin—again. And the team the Hokage assigned him included the two boys who just kissed each other. 

"I trust that you'll treat this team no better and no worse than all of the other ones you've tested," the old man told the elite jounin.

"Hai, hai," Kakashi replied in a respectfully bored tone of voice. He waved his hand in front of him in a gesture meant to express his willingness. His visible eye creased into an upside-down 'U' as he forced a smile behind his mask. His eyebrow—the one hidden behind his hitai-ate—twitched when heard the sounds of multiple fists hitting soft flesh and Naruto's pitiful squeak.

As calm as Hatake Kakashi looked on the outside, he was screaming in his mind.

_Great! Just freakin' great!_

* * *

After all of the commotion Sasuke's fangirls caused, none of them got to sit next to the dark-haired boy. Warai plopped herself down in her old seat and refused to move. She flashed her eyes to ice blue a few times to creep out the other girls and spent the time waiting for Iruka easing Naruto's bruises. 

_Why didn't I notice how fast he heals before? _Warai wondered as she placed a cool hand on his abused cheek. She sent a pulse of cold energy into his cheekbone and numbed the pain for him. He sent a grateful smile her way and Warai kissed his uninjured cheek in return.

"That's for sticking up for me," she said. The blonde girl then turned to Sasuke and smacked him upside the head.

Sasuke was unprepared for the move and half-asleep, so when her hand hit him, the force caused him to knock his head onto the desk. Luckily, his hitai-ate did its job and protected his forehead from bruising.

"And _that's _for being a bastard!" Warai snarled.

Sasuke snapped back up and glared at the girl. Unlike the other females the Uchiha knew, this one didn't cringe at his stare. In fact, she met his cold gaze and raised him a contemptuous sneer. Sasuke decided to meet ice with indifference and carefully blanked all emotion from his eyes.

It had no effect at all.

The dark-haired boy was starting to get uncomfortable when he was saved by an unlikely source.

"Ne, Wa-chan," Naruto said, poking Warai's side until she giggled. "If you did that to Sasuke-teme every time he was a bastard, your hand would get sore and fall off."

Warai broke off her stare and turned to the other blonde. She tilted her head for a moment and realized that he was right. She decided to ignore Sasuke until they absolutely _had _to interact with each other and looked up when Iruka finally came through the classroom door.

"Welcome graduates!" the tanned man shouted to the thirty-one ninjas in the room. "This is your first day as genin. But I want you to know that now the real work starts."

_"Real _work?" Shikamaru muttered behind Warai. She had to hide her laugh in a cough and tried to look innocent when Iruka scowled at her for interrupting.

"As genin, you are ninja of Konoha," he continued. "But you're at the bottom of the barrel. It will take hard work and years before you can become a chuunin, like me. And even more years before you reach jounin level."

He looked down at his clipboard and smiled. "As such, you all will be assigned teams into teams of three and have a jounin as your sensei. Since there are 31 graduates this year, one team will be a team of four. The teams will be comprised in a way that each team is balanced and no one team is remarkably stronger than the other."

_With the exception of the team of four,_ Iruka amended silently.

Warai leaned her head on her hands and sighed. She didn't care if they fought in teams. Considering the friendly attitude of Konoha, she expected something like this for their genin. It was at times like this that she felt glad that she became a ninja for the leaf village rather than the Village of Mist. Shinobi from that village were cold and—for the most part—selfish.

She glanced at Sasuke and frowned.

_Not that Kirikagure has the monopoly on selfishness,_ she thought. _He probably thinks that a team will drag him down._

"Team Seven: Hyoro Warai!" Iruka said.

Warai snapped out of her daze and sat up. She wanted to know who else was on her team.

"Uzumaki Naruto!"

Naruto stood up and yelled, his arms above his head in triumph. Warai felt like cheering too, but left it to her more emotional partner. But she allowed herself a grin instead.

"Uchiha Sasuke!"

Naruto sat down so suddenly that it looked like he deflated. Warai's smile disappeared and a scowl fixed itself on her pretty face. She ignored the death glares from the other girls in the room and turned to look at the Uchiha. She had no clue as to his thoughts and really didn't want to know about them.

"Oi, Iruka-sense!" Naruto shouted. "Why is someone as exceptional as me paired up with this bastard!"

"Because Sasuke graduated with the highest scores in the class and you had the worst!" Iruka explained. The other kids laughed at this, but Warai knew that soon everyone would know how talented Naruto really was.

"Besides, I'm not done yet. This is the four-man team I was talking about."

Naruto, Warai, and Sasuke instantly snapped out of their individual inner monologues/rants and gave their full attention to the chuunin.

"The last member of Team Seven," he paused and his inner chibi laughed at the looks of almost eagerness on Sasuke and Warai's faces.

"Haruno Sakura!"

Sakura jumped up and yelled, much as Naruto had, and turned to Ino to gloat. Naruto, Warai, and Sasuke simply scowled and shared the same thought.

_CRAP._

* * *

Kakashi looked around the small apartment and nodded. Although a bit too small to house two pre-teens, it was homey and neat. He could see Naruto's influence in the color scheme and posters on the walls. He could also see Warai's influence through the soft, sky blue window blinds and the throw pillows that were scattered everywhere. 

He picked up a framed picture of Naruto and Warai and spoke to the Hokage, who was sitting at the kitchen table.

"May I ask why you placed Haruno Sakura on my team?" he asked. "The other three are strong and are above-average in different areas. Haruno is a first-generation ninja with no real defining attributes."

Sarutobi took a drag from his pipe and looked at the poster of the Hokage Monument that hung directly across from him.

"It's true that the girl isn't particularly good at any of the ninja arts," he began. "But Iruka tells me that her chakra control is near perfect. He also says that there are moments when she exhibits a strength that could rival Tsunade's. If she had the chance to increase her chakra store and trained a bit more as well…"

Kakashi nodded. "If she's teamed with those three, she'll have no choice but to improve," he admitted. "But she might also spend most of the time mooning over the Uchiha. Not to mention that Uzumaki still despises the boy."

"That's why I have the perfect solution," Sarutobi tipped his hat over his face and grinned. "But you'll have to pass them first, ne, Kakashi?"

The Copy Nin smiled behind his mask and nodded.

"Yes, Hokage-sama," he replied. "I'll have to pass them first."

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**A/N:**

Well, okay…done! Yay!

Thanks for the reviews. I enjoy reading them!


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto! There! Are you happy? You've gone and made me cry now…ARE YOU HAPPY? 

**A/N:** Wow…over 1000 hits. I feel so _loved_. Thanks for reading this story!

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Chapter Eight**

"He's late," Naruto, growled. He and the rest of Team Seven were the only ones in the classroom. Their respective jounin teachers had picked up the other teams and they were the only ones left.

"Even Iruka-sensei left," Sakura agreed, having decided to be nice to Naruto for now. If she could get him to keep Warai away from Sasuke, then she'd be nice to the devil himself.

"Who do you think our teacher is, Wa-chan?" Naruto asked.

Warai was sitting in Iruka's chair, her feet up on his desk and stopped flinging senbon at the ceiling. She looked at the clock and then at her teammates.

"It's been three hours, Naruto," she sighed. "Could it be anyone else?"

Sasuke and Sakura watched interestedly as Naruto's shoulders slumped forward and a shadow cast over his face. Then the blonde was scraping a chair over to the door and wedged a blackboard eraser into it. Warai closed her eyes and threw another senbon into the air while Sasuke frowned.

"Naruto-baka," Sakura shouted. "There's no way a jounin is going to fall for that!"

The blonde turned and grinned. "It's his fault for being late," he said. Despite Sakura's shout, he knew that she lived for pranks like this. After all, he was the one who caught her replacing the meat in Ino's sandwiches for earthworms once.

They all heard the sound of footsteps getting closer and stared at the door. Both Warai and Naruto knew that Kakashi wouldn't really fall for the prank, but would go through with it anyway just because it would take too much effort to avoid something as harmless as an eraser. Their prediction came true as the eraser hit their sensei's head and shoulder before falling to the ground.

White dust surrounded the tall man for a moment before settling into his hair and onto his clothes. He bent over to pick up the object. Sakura was bowing in apology and blaming Naruto for everything. Sasuke was frowning at the jounin—something about him was familiar. Warai smirked and used a few chakra strings to pull down her senbon from the ceiling.

Kakashi noted all of this as he placed the eraser back where it belonged. He turned and smiled at the genin, his visible eye curving into an upside-down 'U.'

"My first impression of all of you is…I hate you." The looks on Warai and Naruto's faces were bland while Sasuke and Sakura looked a bit shocked. "Roof; five minutes," he barked out, before disappearing in a cloud of smoke.

Warai stood up and walked up to Naruto's side. She casually looked over her shoulder at her other two teammates and grinned.

"If he could teleport, why didn't he use it to get here faster?" she wondered. The comment was met with a glaze of frost entering the Uchiha's eyes and Sakura's mouth pulling down into a scowl. Naruto laughed and dragged his laughing friend up the stairs.

* * *

The four genin sat on a trio of steps in front of their sensei. Kakashi sat on the railing that kept students from falling off the roof and stared at them. He knew about them, but doubted that they knew each other. So he started the introductions.

"Tell me about yourselves," he said lazily. "Your likes, dislikes, your hobbies and dreams for the future…things like that."

"Shouldn't you tell us about yourself first, sensei?" Sakura asked.

"Oh…me?" Kakashi folded his arms in front of him and absently scratched the back of his hand. "My name is Hatake Kakashi. I'm the kind of person who doesn't feel like talking about his likes and dislikes. My dreams for the future are none of your business. But anyway, I have a lot of hobbies…"

Warai and Naruto stifled their laughter again. All the jounin revealed about himself was his name.

"Blonde boy," Kakashi called out, even though he knew Naruto's name and the boy knew it. "You first."

Naruto grinned and tugged at his forehead protector. "My name's Uzumaki Naruto," he started. "I like Warai-chan and Cup Ramen. I like the ramen at Ichiraku's better, though. Not better than Warai-chan! Better than Cup Ramen. I like Iruka-sensei, too. I dislike the three minutes it takes to cook Cup Ramen and Sasuke-teme. My hobbies include training and eating ramen. My dream is to become greater than all of the Hokages!"

_Typical, _Kakashi thought. _He hasn't changed in four years._

"Your turn," he said, pointing at Warai.

"Well, my name's Hyoro Warai. I like Naruto-kun, Iruka-sensei, and reading. I love to eat ramen too, but not as much as Naru-kun does. I dislike people who truly hate others without knowing them first, arrogant people, know-it-alls, the color pink, and peaches. My hobbies are training, needlepoint, and sword fighting—specifically with a katana. My dream is to live happily and have a large family."

_Not surprising about the family, given her past,_ Kakashi acknowledged with a nod. _The needlepoint is interesting though. So is the sword fighting._

He scratched his head and pointed at Sakura.

"I'm Haruno Sakura and I like…" She trailed off and glanced at the silent Uchiha to her right. "My hobbies are…" Another sidelong glance. "My dream is…" This time the look was accompanied by a high-pitched giggle.

_She's worse than I thought,_ Kakashi sighed inwardly.

"What about the things you dislike?" he asked.

"Naruto!"

Naruto's face fell and he leaned onto Warai in a dramatic fashion. "Sakura-chan doesn't like me!" he cried into Warai's chest, nuzzling against her. "Whatever will I do?"

"You can start by getting your face away from my cleavage, you idiot," Warai growled. Naruto sat up and smiled sheepishly at her, but that didn't save him from the slap that he had coming to him.

"Pervert," she muttered.

The silver-haired jounin hid his amusement and pointed at the last member of his team.

"Uchiha Sasuke," the boy answered in a low tone. "I dislike many things and I don't like a whole lot. My hobbies are training and reading. My dream…well, it's more of an ambition. I wish to kill a certain man."

The entire speech was said without any emotion and with Sasuke staring off into the distance. His aura became darker the more he spoke. By the time he said the last sentence, Sasuke's barely concealed killing intent was affecting them all. Kakashi and Naruto frowned, Sakura sat there awed, and Warai felt a twinge of envy in her heart.

_At least he knows who to go after to get revenge for his family,_ she bitterly thought. _It's not like _**I **_can go around and kill all of the Swordsmen of Kirigakure._

Naruto glanced at his girl and gently placed his hand on her shoulder. In the days they spent talking about the Kyuubi, she told him all about her family and the circumstances that led to her becoming part of Konoha. She said that she felt there should be no secrets between them and that she wanted someone else to know.

The boy was honored by her trust.

So he knew that Sasuke's words affected her the most, since his situation so closely mirrored her own.

Kakashi knew the truth as well and felt relieved that Warai had Naruto to keep her from becoming as depressed and dark as the Uchiha. Maybe the blonde will have the same affect on the raven-haired boy. Kakashi stood up and rubbed the side of his face.

"Well there's nothing more to do today," he said. "Tomorrow we go through survival training. So be at the training grounds at 5 a.m."

"Wait!" Sakura said. "We had survival training in the Academy."

"But you haven't gone through my survival training," the jounin answered. "This is a test for you four. I'm going to tell you now that out of the ten teams that graduated this year, only three teams will truly move on to become genin. The rest will be sent back to the Academy."

"WHAT?"

Kakashi smirked at the looks of shock on Warai, Naruto, and Sakura's faces. He also noticed that while Sasuke remained silent, the boy was gripping his hands together so tightly that bruises were already forming.

"Then what was the point of graduating?" Naruto yelled. Warai sat silently and stared at the jounin. He grinned and tilted his head at the group in front of him.

"Be at the training grounds at 5 a.m. and bring all of your ninja gear," he repeated. "And don't eat breakfast. You'll throw up if you do." He was gone a moment later.

"Survival training?" Sakura whined. "I worked so hard!"

"We all did," Warai snapped at the girl.

Naruto growled and held his hand protectively against his hitai-ate.

"I should have put more itching powder on that eraser," he grumbled.

* * *

Warai woke up at 4 a.m. and got ready for the day. She put on the same outfit she wore the day before and set out Naruto's clothes as well. Out of habit she made two servings of Cup Ramen. She stared at the food as Naruto got ready himself and startled when he put his hand on her shoulder.

"Might as well eat it," he said, sitting down.

"But Kakashi-sensei told us not to eat," she said.

Naruto shrugged his shoulders and continued to eat. It was really annoying when Warai's honor code started arguments like this. Especially when she bent her own rules whenever the situation suited her.

"It'd be a waste of food and we can't afford that," he told her. "Not yet." They had to be practical for just a little while longer. Once they started working on missions and got paid, then they could loosen up a bit. Naruto never joked around when it came to his food.

The girl across from him nodded and finally ate as well.

"Besides," he said, slurping up the last of the soup. "You know Kakashi's gonna be late by at least three hours."

"You better start calling him Kakashi-sensei, Naru-kun," Warai reminded. "He's going to be our leader from now on. We can't call him the same thing we called him when we were students and he was one of our 'bodyguards.'"

Naruto stretched his arms over his head and resisted letting loose a loud purr of contentment—a fully belly of ramen in the morning always made him want to curl up like a cat.

"You're right," he said. "But that doesn't mean that we have to stop messing with him about his reading habits and conning him into buying us weapons, right?"

The kunoichi glanced at him in surprise. "Whatever gave you the idea that we had to stop doing _that_?" she asked appalled.

* * *

"Ohayo," Sakura said sleepily. Sasuke grunted in acknowledgement and looked around. The field was large enough for the five of them to spar and had three thick posts sunk into the ground at one end. Warai and Naruto came walking from the direction of their apartment and greeted the others cheerily.

"It's five in the morning, Naruto," Sakura complained. "Can you not be so loud?"

Naruto grinned and shook his head. Sakura reminded Naruto of the way Warai acted sometimes in the mornings. Not that he'd tell either girl that they had anything in common. He looked at his girlfriend when she tugged at his hand and shivered in the pre-dawn cold.

He missed his jacket. At least it kept him warm.

"I'm going to set up some targets over on those posts," Warai said, indicating the three wooden objects.

"Okay," he said. "I'll just sit and meditate for a bit."

"What about Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked. "He'll be here soon."

Warai sent the girl a pitying look. "If you believe that, then you're more gullible than even _I _thought, Sakura." The couple walked away from Sasuke and Sakura, shaking their heads.

Sasuke watched as Warai tacked targets onto and around the posts while Naruto sat down a few yards to the left of them. The blonde boy pulled a flat board from his pack and placed it on his head. He then placed his heavy pack, full of ninja equipment, on the board and balanced all of it on his head.

The Uchiha was familiar with the meditation style Naruto was using. It combined the physical effort of balancing a heavy object—usually a jug full of water—with the spiritual effort of meditation. He saw Naruto say something to Warai and the girl nod before she took out a handful of kunai and began throwing them at the targets.

Sakura sat down on the grass, fully expecting their sensei to show up soon.

Two hours later, Kakashi still hadn't shown and Sasuke was over with Warai throwing sharp things at the helpless wooden posts.

Sakura stood up and wiped the dirt from her red skirt. She didn't like the fact that she was the outsider in their group. She thought that it would be like at the Academy and she could go on ignoring Naruto and Warai. But she was quickly coming to the conclusion that real life wasn't the same as Academy life.

She dragged her pack over to the trio and sat down a few feet away from Naruto. She didn't place anything on her head, but sat in a meditation pose anyway. Naruto felt the girl's presence and sighed. As long as she didn't talk it was okay. His neck ached, but he ignored the pain and concentrated once again on his meditation.

"Why aren't you with your Sasuke-kun?" he asked.

Naruto wanted to bite his tongue off, but he couldn't seem to keep himself from asking. A part of him wished that the pink-haired girl would go bother Sasuke and Warai. That was sure to send the gray-eyed kunoichi into seeking _his _company instead of the Uchiha's.

Jealousy didn't feel good to Naruto. It didn't agree with his stomach. But he couldn't deny the emotion he felt at the moment was anything else.

"Because I can't impress him with my shuriken technique," Sakura answered. "Not when Warai is here, too."

Naruto was a bit taken aback by the honest answer and stayed silent for the next fifteen minutes.

"Wa-chan," he called out, without opening his eyes. "It's time."

Warai stopped her silent competition with the Uchiha and dropped the kunai she was holding. She picked up her pack and walked over to Naruto. Carefully, she balanced her pack on top of his and stepped back. Both bags were heavy and she knew from experience that by the time Kakashi finally showed up, Naruto's chakra would have increased by at least ten percent.

"Thank you, Wa-chan," he whispered.

"You're welcome, kitsune," she chuckled and went back to beating the Uchiha in the marksmanship area.

Naruto took a deep breath and let his mind blank. He felt at peace and felt his strength growing. He felt—

"Naruto," Sakura said softly. "Why do you do that? With the packs, I mean?"

The blonde inwardly groaned, but kept his face serene. After all, she asked nicely and it was a valid question.

"It builds up my chakra," he answered evenly. He felt the weight of the packs shift and relaxed his neck so that they would balance out again. "I use the meditation to get over the physical pain of the weight. That way my both parts of my chakra increase evenly."

"Oh," she said. "I've never heard of training like that."

"It's common knowledge in the shinobi community."

"I'm a first-generation ninja, remember?" she reminded. "No one ever tells me these things. And they're such common knowledge that they're not in the scrolls or books I read."

Naruto's brow furrowed. He never expected that Sakura's lack of skill came from incomplete information. Although no one told Naruto everything there was to training, he knew enough from closely watching others and the few scrolls the Hokage said once belonged to his parents. He wasn't a first-generation ninja like Sakura. His parents died in the Kyuubi attack and were ninjas—just like he was now.

"You're too inexperienced for the packs," he told her, wanting to help her since she seemed so eager to improve. "And we don't have any water jugs around here."

"Water jugs?"

"That's what I normally use. The water makes the weight slightly unbalanced so that I have to consciously think about staying still," he explained. "Do you have any of those ninja books on you now?"

"A few," she admitted.

"Good. Try balancing those on your head."

Naruto heard the rustles she made as she looked through her bag and felt her presence settle beside him once again. He wished her good luck and then returned to his own meditation.

Sakura balanced the books on her head and focused her energy. It was a different experience meditating with the books on her head, but she understood what Naruto said about increasing both the physical and spiritual parts of her chakra. She fell into a light trance and felt the energy run through her. The girl swore that she could _feel _her chakra increasing.

The quartet continued on like this for the next hour and a half. Sakura was just about to begin easing out of her trance when Warai shouted out a warning. Almost without thinking about it, she grabbed one of the books off her head, rolled, and blocked the stray kunai from hitting Naruto in the chest.

The blue eyes snapped open and the packs fell from their perch as he leaned back in surprise. Warai ran to him and hugged him fiercely. Sasuke followed at a slower pace and eyed Sakura warily.

"What happened?" Naruto asked, still dazed from meditating for too long and the sudden wake-up call.

"Sasuke-teme decided to show off," Warai explained. "He miscalculated and the kunai went straight for you. Sakura saved you." Sakura lowered the book she held and stared at the kunai that was imbedded into the tome up to the hilt.

"More like the book saved you," Sakura tried to joke. She was shaking. She'd never moved so quickly or fluidly in her life. The kunoichi pulled the knife out of the book and frowned at the hole left behind. "Great. Now the Librarian's gonna kill me."

Naruto and Warai's eyes widened at the thickness of the book the girl held. "That's thicker than my bicep!" Naruto exclaimed. "You've been meditating with _that _on your head?"

"You told me to start with the books I had," Sakura frowned.

"I thought you had thinner books!" he said. "Maybe a textbook or two from the Academy. Not the _History of Konoha and Its Hokages!_"

Warai examined the damage done to the book and winced. She knew the Librarian at the Academy was especially protective of her books. "Sakura," she said gently. "Maybe Sasuke can pay for the damages."

"He better pay for the damages," she said. Sakura turned to the quiet Uchiha heir and gave him the same fierce scowl she gave Naruto whenever he pissed her off. She was too scared of what the Librarian would do to her to worry over whether or not Sasuke liked her at the moment. "I'm not rich enough to buy another copy of this book."

Sasuke turned around and stared at the kunai and shuriken littering the ground. He felt like frowning—or worse, _apologizing_. "I'll pay for the book," he said. "Looks like Sakura's reflexes are faster than yours, dobe. Maybe you aren't training hard enough."

Warai gave a small smile as Naruto stood up to yell at Sasuke while they took down the targets and collected the weapons. Her pulse was barely getting back to normal after that scare and she wondered if her heart would always skip a beat whenever Naruto was put in danger. Gray eyes met jade green and Warai hugged the surprised girl.

"Thank you," she whispered. "Thank you for saving my mate."

Sakura pulled back. "Mate?" she asked. The word confused her. She could understand it if Warai called Naruto her boyfriend, but 'mate' sounded a little _permanent_.

The other girl nodded and reached under her shirt to pull out a chain that had a silver ring on it. It was a simple ring etched with the symbols for Konoha and the Village of Mist on it. Sakura's breath held at the sight.

"Naruto and I are going to get married once we're old enough," Warai confessed. "No one else knows yet."

"Except me," Sakura breathed out. She felt horrible at the rumors she spread about the other girl and told her so.

Warai waved Sakura's regrets aside. "That was another world ago," she said. "This is now. We're teammates and, I hope, friends."

"Why are you being nice to me?"

"Because you saved Naruto," Warai answered simply. "I'm sure that later on you'll do something to annoy me, but Naruto annoys me twenty times a day. Just like I'm going to get on _your _nerves. Besides, friends who agree with everything you say are boring."

The look the other girl was giving her, made Warai uncomfortable, so she gestured to the other half of their team. "Looks like the boys are headed for the middle of the field now. Let's go."

Sakura stood up and picked up her pack and books. Her eyebrows rose when Warai not only shouldered her own pack, but Naruto's as well. They walked slowly to the bickering duo.

"Warai," the pink-haired girl started. "If we pass this test, do you think you can help me with my training?"

"No," came the answer.

Sakura's face fell and she stared at the grass in front of her.

"I'll help you even if you don't pass, Sakura-chan."

Bright green eyes lit up and a smile graced the girl's features. "Thank you, Warai." The sounds of a scuffle reached their ears and the girls looked over in time to see Sasuke roll over on top of Naruto and try to punch the blonde in the head.

"Don't thank me just yet," she murmured dryly. "If I train you that means you train with that monkey as well."

"I think I'll learn to live with that," Sakura chuckled.

The girls dropped their bags and sat down on the grass. They talked while the boys bickered and continued to wait for their sensei.

**

* * *

A/N:**

Should I end it here? I'm gonna end it here.

I don't really hate Sakura—at least not the Sakura that's all serious about being a ninja—so I decided that maybe Warai could help her get in touch with her true kunoichi self rather than the boy-crazy pre-teen self.

Inner Sakura kicks ass anyway. She should come out more to play.

Again, thanks for the reviews and for reading my story!


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: **Don't make me cry again. I'm ugly when I cry.

**

* * *

Chapter Nine**

Kakashi finally showed up ten minutes to ten in a poof of smoke. He raised his hand and smiled.

"Yo!"

"YOU'RE LATE!"

The shout came from three different mouths. Both girls had their hands on their hips and Naruto shook an angry fist at the jounin. Sasuke simply stood with his hands in his pockets and glared at Kakashi.

"I'm sorry," he apologized with absolutely no sincerity in his tone. "A black cat crossed my path and—"

Three voices once more cut through the air.

"LIAR!"

Kakashi grinned and placed an alarm clock on top of the middle post. He pressed the timer and turned to his team.

"The alarm's set for noon," he told them. He then held up two bells. "You're mission objective is for each of you to retrieve a bell from me before the timer goes off. You can eat the lunches I brought when you get a bell. If the alarm rings and you haven't gotten one from me, then I'll tie you to these posts and eat lunch right in front of you."

_That's why he didn't want us to eat, _Sasuke realized.

The four genin exchanged looks and Sakura spoke up. "But there are four of us and only two bells," she pointed out.

Kakashi explained, "At least two of you will definitely be tied to the posts by noon. The two who manage to retrieve a bell are going to have to agree on which of the other two will pass this test."

"What?" Naruto sputtered.

"I was against the idea of a four-man genin team in the first place," Kakashi said, uninterested in their confusion. "This way, if by some miracle, you guys pass, I have a regular three-man team."

"That's not fair!" Warai shouted.

"Welcome to life, Warai," Kakashi said.

"Well I'm _definitely _going to get a bell!" Naruto boasted.

One lazy dark eye pinned the blonde under its gaze. "It's usually the ones with the least talent that are the loudest," he commented. "So let's ignore the loser and get on with it."

Naruto stilled as he heard the word 'loser' echo through his head. The rational part of him knew that the man was only trying to bait him. The emotional part conceded that Kakashi did a damn good job of goading him. A war cry erupted from the boy's mouth as he took a kunai out of his weapons pouch. He fully intended to get both bells now and give one to Warai.

The other three genin stilled as a gust of wind flew between them and goggled as Kakashi appeared behind Naruto. His arm was twisted behind him and the tip of his kunai pointed at the back of the boy's skull.

"I didn't say go yet," Kakashi admonished in a silky voice. "But at least now you're ready to come after me with the intent to kill." He released Naruto and the blonde stumbled forward. "That's the only way that you're going to get these bells. Come at me as if your life depended on it. Use whatever weapons you brought; whatever talents you have."

"Now START!"

The four genin disappeared as they scattered around the surrounding forest. Each found a hiding place and began formulating their plans.

* * *

Sakura was hiding in the underbrush near the edge of the field when a hand grabbed her ankle and started dragging her deeper into the forest. At first she fought, but then she recognized Warai's chakra and calmed down. She tapped the girl on the shoulder and sat up.

"You didn't have to drag me, you know," she complained, brushing leaves out of her hair.

"Sorry," Warai said. "What do you think of this test? Honestly?"

"I think that it's unfair and pits us against each other," Sakura answered automatically.

"It's cruel, too," Warai added. "This test is designed to make us fight against each other like dogs over a bone. I would expect this kind of thing in Mist, but not here."

Sakura stared at the girl. This was the second time the girl alluded to the other ninja village today. The first being the ring she saw with the symbol for the Hidden Village of Mist on it.

"Why didn't you expect this kind of test here?" she asked.

"Because Konoha's friendlier for one," Warai explained. "In Mist it's basically every shinobi for him or herself. Here it's all about teamwork. I don't understand why—"

"That's it! This isn't a test of our survival or ninja skills!" Sakura hissed. "It's a test of our ability to work together as a team!"

"Sakura, your forehead might be huge, but behind it is the brain of an analytical genius!" Warai motioned for the other girl to follow her back to the edge of the forest. When she didn't immediately follow, Warai turned around. Sakura was an interesting shade of green. "What's the matter?"

"I didn't eat breakfast," she snapped. "Or dinner last night."

"I understand the breakfast—we _were_ ordered not to eat—but why did you skip dinner?"

"Diet."

Warai looked the girl over and frowned. "You don't need to diet."

Sakura smiled. "Why thank you!"

"You just need to tone that flab of yours," the blonde girl qualified. "Guys totally love a nice flat stomach."

"My stomach _is_ flat!"

"Not as flat as mine."

"Shut up!" Sakura breathed in and let out her anger. She'll deal with the girl's insults later. "We need to work together remember?"

"Here," Warai tossed her a small bag. "Those are soldier pills. It won't satisfy your hunger, but it'll give you enough energy for jutsus. Leave the hand-to-hand stuff to me. Frankly, your taijutsu sucks. But don't worry, Naruto and I will help you with that."

Warai had a knack for insulting Sakura while encouraging her to do better. She sighed and took the pill. Sakura was impressed by Warai's foresight. _She _sure as hell didn't think of bringing soldier pills. Warai nodded and together they made their way to the edge of the field.

"We have to find Naruto and Sasuke and tell them that we should work together."

"Easier said than done," Sakura muttered. She pointed into the clearing and both girls watched as Kakashi gave Naruto what looked like a very painful blow to the ass.

Warai slapped her palm onto her face and sighed. "He's impulsive and not a little stupid," she said. "He'll probably try to get both bells for me. What about Sasuke?"

"He thinks we'll slow him down and get in his way," Sakura said. She noticed Warai's surprised look and laughed. "Just because I like him doesn't mean I'm completely clueless about what he thinks of me."

"Then why try?"

"Men change their minds if a woman is persistent enough."

"Right."

"Are we going to come up with a plan that includes the boys or are you going to make fun of me?"

"Can't I do both?" Warai grinned at her newest friend and then sobered when she saw seven Naruto's beat each other up in the field. "He's not in the mood to listen to me right now."

"And we know that Sasuke won't listen to us before time's up," Sakura sighed.

"Do you remember Kurenai-sensei's lectures and lessons in genjutsu?"

"Yes, I got better marks than you in that course."

"Okay," she whispered. "This is what we're going to do."

* * *

Kakashi grinned up at the irate blonde hanging upside-down from the tree in front of him.

"Don't fall for such an obvious trap," he said. "A ninja must look beneath the underneath."

Naruto was everything the jounin expected. He was brash and impulsive with the strength of a barroom brawler. He was slightly surprised that the brat managed to pull out seven _kage bushins _(Shadow Clones). He was even more surprised when the prankster managed to trap him for a while.

Kakashi knew from personal experience that shinobi who were former pranksters more often than not created the most original and effective traps. If Naruto ever managed to curb his impulsiveness, he had no doubt the blonde would become a great ninja.

He sensed that the girls were watching the display, but for some reason he couldn't exactly pinpoint their whereabouts. He'd have to congratulate Kurenai for training first-rate kunoichi this year. Especially since she only took over the teaching position two years ago.

Uchiha Sasuke was behind him and to the left. The waves of eagerness Kakashi felt were subtle enough, but still strong enough to give his position away.

_Maybe the Uchiha should have taken the extra kunoichi class along with Warai and Sakura, _he mused.

The jounin purposely shifted his weight to his left leg and waited for the Academy's number one rookie to take the opening he gave him.

Sasuke didn't disappoint.

Kakashi used _Kawarimi no Jutsu _(Replacement Technique) a split second before half a dozen shuriken hit him. He took a page from Naruto's book and created a shadow clone to mess with Sasuke for a while and went in search of the girls.

He found Sakura in a small clearing near the field. The girl was shouting for Sasuke in that annoying voice of hers. He ran through a series of seals and created a genjutsu that would immobilize the girl for a good while.

Warai watched from her hiding spot as Sakura froze in place and her eyes became glassy. She didn't know what the other girl saw, but Sakura's already pale face became even whiter and she gasped out Sasuke's name. Then she let loose a blood curdling scream and fainted.

Kakashi looked down impassively at the girl and shrugged. He honestly didn't think that the illusion he made of Sasuke impaled by a dozen kunai was that bad.

"Did I overdo it?" he wondered. He shook his head and went back to the field. Sasuke was waiting for him and Naruto must've sprung his fifth trap by now.

Sakura waited until she felt the silver-haired man's presence leave before sitting up. She turned to where Warai was hiding and frowned.

"How'd you know that he'd use genjutsu on me and not you?" she asked.

"I've known Kakashi-sensei for years," she explained. "He would have fought me, but left you relatively unharmed. Now what level is he?"

The girl pursed her lips and thought about it. "He's about as good as Hinata at genjutsu," she decided. "But nowhere near Kurenai-sensei's level. I think I can fool him for about 90 seconds."

Warai nodded. She turned toward the renewed sounds of fighting. "That's all the time we need," she said. They ran towards the field and split up just before the tree line stopped. Each girl watched Sasuke fight their teacher and waited for the inevitable outcome.

Sasuke aimed a kick to Kakashi's head and felt the jounin grab his ankle. The boy then brought his right fist up for a punch and the man caught that as well. Sasuke used the momentum he had to turn his body upside-down and tried another kick with his free leg. That strike was blocked by Kakashi's forearm and the movement made the man's torso vulnerable.

The Copy Nin's eye widened as Sasuke reached out and managed to barely touch one of the bells before he jumped back. He sighed and placed his book back into his weapons pouch. The genin was going through a few hand seals and Kakashi knew that this was the ninjutsu portion of his day.

"_Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!" _(Fire Release: Grand Fireball Technique)

Kakashi jumped out of the way as fire erupted from the twelve-year-old's mouth. A feeling almost like glee spread through his system. The silver-haired jounin went through a few seals of his own and smirked. The boys on this team knew some powerful jutsus for children their age. It almost made him regret having to fail them.

Sasuke frowned when he saw that Kakashi dodged his jutsu. He looked around him, trying to anticipate the next attack.

"Where is he?" he muttered. "Behind me? Above?"

"No," a muffled voice corrected. "Beneath you!"

_"Doton: Shinjuu Zanshu no Jutsu!" _(Earth Release: Inner Decapitation Technique) 

Sasuke didn't have time to curse before hands grabbed his ankles and buried him in the dirt up to his neck. He scowled at the man crouching in front of him and remained silent.

"Don't be cocky," Kakashi advised the young genin. "Even if you manage to surprise your opponent like that, always think of the next step."

"That's some damn good advice!" Sakura yelled out. Kakashi turned around. The girl should have been knocked out for longer than that. He watched as she gathered her chakra and formed fifteen seals in quick succession.

"_Yumekiri no Jutsu!" _(Dream Mist Technique)

Kakashi smirked as he felt his body go though the familiar sensation of a genjustu. Even as he praised Kurenai for teaching these girls, he forgot that the kunoichi was a master at illusionary techniques. His earlier genjutsu probably didn't have any affect at all on the girl.

He watched as the sky above him turned a pale pink and purple mist floated around him. He closed his eyes and tried to raise his arms to form the Master Seal and dispel the illusion. He frowned when he realized that he couldn't.

_What the…_he wondered. _Sakura's not experienced enough to complete a genjutsu binding._

Even if Sakura managed to surprise him and know how to bind him, Kakashi knew that that didn't account for the fact that his head was getting lighter and his breathing was starting to hitch.

He saw movement to his right and felt someone tug on the bells attached to his belt. Kakashi quickly made a decision and bit his lip hard enough to draw blood. The pink sky immediately disappeared, but the purple mist remained. He jerked his gaze to the girl next to him.

Warai had her hitai-ate tied over her mouth and nose. She reached over and took the bells roughly. She jumped out of the range of the mist and nodded to Sakura. The other girl left her spot near Sasuke's head and grabbed Kakashi under his arms. She slowly dragged the man away from the mist and sagged to the ground.

She untied her hitai-ate from around her nose and mouth and gasped out for air. "You're _way _heavier than you look, Kakashi-sensei," she gasped.

Warai used a small wind jutsu to dispel the rest of the purple mist and tossed the silver bell to Sakura. "Good job, Sakura," she said. "You kept the illusion up longer than we thought."

"It was your _Dokukiri _(Poison Mist) that did most of the work," the other girl said. She waved her hand at Warai's complement and placed a wet cloth over Kakashi's mouth. He hungrily drank the moisture, aching to get the poison out of his system.

"_Dokukiri,_" Kakashi rasped out once the cloth was removed. "You combined a genjutsu with a ninjutsu." He turned his head to stared at the two girls. Sasuke stared as well. With his own hitai-ate around his mouth and covering his nose he could do little else. A small light of admiration shown in the onyx depths before anger filled them.

_These _girls _did better than I did! _Sasuke growled to himself.

"Yup! We worked together," Warai exclaimed. "And we got a bell each!"

"Great," he answered. "Once I'm mobile again, I'll take a soldier pill then tie Sasuke and Naruto to the posts."

Warai looked around for her boyfriend. "Where _is _Naruto?"

"KAKASHI-SENSEI!"

A large shape flew over their heads and into the trees on the opposite side of the field. The girls turned to their sensei. Sasuke simply rolled his eyes and raised an eyebrow.

"He must've triggered the last of my traps," the jounin chuckled.

* * *

Naruto was proud of Warai for managing to get a bell. He really was. But he didn't understand why she decided to give it to Sakura rather than him. He grimaced as he struggled against the ropes tying him to the wooden post. Next to him, Sasuke was similarly trussed up and was sulking quietly. Warai and Sakura sat on either side of Naruto and waited for their sensei to gather his thoughts and lecture them on their performance.

"Naruto," he started. "You're strong. But brute strength isn't enough. You can try to overwhelm your opponents with your _kage bushins _but most likely you'll just end up wasting time, energy, and chakra. You're too impulsive, but I'm sure that you've heard that complaint before. You're gullible too. I thought that you were a great prankster. You should use that devious little mind of yours to spot traps and avoid them. Not fall into them."

Naruto stayed silent during Kakashi's little speech and accepted the criticisms when they were given and glowed at the complements—such as they were. When the jounin continued, he nodded his head to each sentence.

"You need to learn how to use your techniques at the right time and in the right way. Again, I have to say that your talent as a trickster would have helped you a lot." Kakashi scratched his chin. "You had enough time yesterday to cover that eraser with itching powder instead of chalk dust. You also had enough time this morning to cover this entire field with traps, but you didn't."

"Damn! I should have thought of that," Naruto groaned to himself.

The jounin nodded absently and then turned his steely eye to the second boy tied to the post next to Naruto. "You, Sasuke, went your own way," he said. "You watched while Naruto was in trouble and instead of helping him, you looked for ways to get to me. You were so arrogant in your belief that you could take me—a jounin—that you didn't even consider teaming up with Naruto or the others. You assumed that they would bring you down."

He turned to the girls next and smiled slightly. "You two do justice to Kurenai-sensei," he said. "I can tell that she taught the kunoichi class very well and was harsher on you than the previous professor. Sakura, your ability to both cast and dispel genjustu will be very helpful in the future. Warai, it was probably you who came up with the plan to combine Sakura's genjustu and your ninjutsu. You worked as a team and that's great. I just have one complaint."

The two girls looked at each other in apprehension. Sakura bit her lower lip and twisted the skirt of her dress in her hands. Warai looked stoically at her sensei and waited.

"Why didn't you include the boys in your plan?" he asked, harshly.

Sakura laughed nervously and looked at her fellow kunoichi. Warai took the hint and became the spokesperson for their little 'team.'

"Well," she began. "Naruto was already fighting you by the time I found Sakura and we discussed our plans to team up against you. When I saw him get tripped up in that trap, I knew that he was too frustrated and angry to listen to me about the whole teamwork thing."

"And we knew that Sasuke wouldn't want to work with us," Sakura added, refusing to look at her crush. "Not without a lot of persuasion and we didn't have enough time to do that."

"So you decided to team up together—just the two of you?" Kakashi asked. The girls nodded and the jounin presented them with their lunches. "I'll let you two discuss things and then you can tell me who you'll send back to the Academy after lunch."

Both Naruto and Sasuke stiffened. They totally forgot the details of their test. Since the girls got the bells, they now had the power to send one of them back to the Academy. Naruto prayed that Warai would convince Sakura to pick him. Sasuke simply looked off into the distance.

"We already made our decision, Kakashi-sensei," Sakura called out softly. The silver haired man turned from his contemplation of the stone monument in front of him and raised an eyebrow.

Warai took a breath and saw Sakura nod. "We choose…" she trailed off.

**

* * *

A/N:**

There ya go!

I'm evil…hehehe.


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Naruto.

**

* * *

Chapter Ten**

Warai stared at the one-eyed jounin. "We choose…"

"…no one," Sakura finished. The boys gaped at each other and the girls. The green-eyed kunoichi pushed her hair behind her shoulder and glared at Kakashi. "Either we all pass or none of us pass!"

"Are you sure about that, Sakura?" Kakashi asked lazily. His arms folded in front of his chest and he struck a bored pose.

"Very sure," the girl answered.

"Sakura and I figured out the point of this survival test, Kakashi-sensei," Warai said. "The test is unfair on so many levels. First we genin have to go up against a jounin. And not just any jounin—the jounin who is supposed to be our teacher! The difference in our powers is too large."

"Second, we're each forced to retrieve a bell," Sakura continued. "But the catch is that there're aren't enough bells for everyone. We're forced to fight not only you, but each other."

"Third is the fact that you put us in a team," Warai gestured to the three genin next to her. "Teams are supposed to work as one, but you gave us a task that was designed to tear us apart."

"But the most unfair part of the test is that even if two of us managed to get bells, the moment we chose the person who was going back to the Academy, all of us would fail your test. This isn't about getting a bell—this about us working as a team. And we can't be a real team if we're willing to sacrifice one of our teammates for our own gain," Sakura finished.

Kakashi stood silent for a few moments. For the first time in his personal history of testing new genin, someone understood the true nature of his test _before _he explained it to them. But two out of four wasn't good enough odds for him to let them pass.

He wanted one hundred percent out of all of them.

"Naruto," he called out. "Choose the person who'll go back to the Academy. If you don't, you _and _Warai automatically fail and lose all rights to become ninja forever."

Naruto froze at the threat, but the steady look in Warai's eyes gave him the confidence to shake his head.

"No!" he said. "Wa-chan's right. It's all of us or none of us."

"Sasuke…" Kakashi growled.

Sasuke turned his head and scowled at him. The jounin's threat was real, but so was the logic behind Sakura and Warai's theory about the true meaning of Kakashi's test. He looked at his teammates and realized that if they failed, he probably never would get teamed up with a stronger group of genin ever again.

He was wrong before. These people were strong—even that annoying Sakura was strong in her own way. He couldn't do anything but improve if he stayed with them. He needed to get stronger if he was going to succeed in killing his brother.

"All or none," he stated.

Kakashi's eye narrowed. He charged the quartet and growled down at them.

"YOU PASS!"

* * *

"I can't believe you almost left me tied to that post!" Naruto complained to Warai.

The genin of the now official Team 7 walked away from the large field. Kakashi left after he declared them his team. Sakura and Warai exchanged grins. Sasuke remained silent.

"If you used _Nawanuke no Jutsu _(Rope Escape Technique) like Sasuke-kun did, then we wouldn't have needed to come back for you," Sakura pointed out.

"That's not the point!" he shouted. "You were willing to leave me behind! What about teamwork?"

"What about carrying your own weight, dobe?" Sasuke asked.

"What's this?" Warai joked. She and Naruto were holding hands again and she swung their loosely gripped fingers between them absently. "The Uchiha is actually participating in a conversation—willingly!"

"Quick, Sakura-chan," Naruto added. "Look up the time so that you can catalogue it in your journal."

"Gotcha! 1346 hours and 32 seconds," Sakura stated, only half joking. She was going to write this day in her journal for sure. "Thanks, for reminding me, Naruto!" Joking about her obsession for Sasuke was easier than fainting or jumping up and down in excitement now that she _was _a part of his team.

Besides, she'd do all of that once she got home.

The rosette-haired kunoichi felt good. Warai was with Naruto and she was on a team with Sasuke. She could go after the boy with no one to get in her way. An idea came to her and she turned around, walking backwards, and addressed the group.

"Why don't we celebrate with a meal?" she asked. Warai and Naruto looked intrigued. Sasuke looked…like he always did—annoyed. Before he could come up with an excuse, Naruto jumped in.

"Let's go to Ichiraku!" he said. He let go of Warai's hand to grab Sasuke's arm and started pulling him. "I won't take no for an answer, Sasuke-teme. I know you haven't eaten and what would you rather do? Go all the way home and cook for yourself or get your food cooked for you?"

The girls watched in amazement as the Uchiha seemed to give in. They looked at each other again and shrugged.

"Naruto!" Warai called out. "Go and order for me. I want to change out of these clothes first. You know what I like to eat anyway."

"Same for me, please!" Sakura added. She brushed her hand through her tangled hair and leaves fell to the ground. "Could you order me some miso and shrimp ramen? Thanks!" Naruto waved his arm without looking back and they knew he got their message.

"Good," the blonde girl said. "By the time we get there our food will be done."

The green-eyed kunoichi smirked. "They'll have to wait and we'll be nice and clean. If you get there first, save me a seat next to Sasuke-kun, okay?"

"I still don't get what you see in him."

"It's not _what _I see in him. It's _where _I see him and _what _he's not wearing when I see him there."

"Naughty Sakura!" Warai gasped. "I didn't know you had that kind of personality."

"That's the weird thing about people. You don't really know them until you get to know them," she said, talking about both herself and her new friend.

"Ain't that the truth?"

The girls nodded at each other and then disappeared from the dusty street; each headed to their separate homes.

* * *

Naruto grinned and plopped down on his favorite stool at Ichiraku. He watched as Sasuke sat next to him and place his pack on the seat next to him to deter any of his fangirls from sitting there. The blonde did the same to the seat on his other side so that Warai had a seat when she came.

"Oji-san!" he called. "Two beef miso ramens and one shrimp miso ramen. All in large bowls please! Sasuke, what do you want?"

The Uchiha stared at the menu and said, "One seafood ramen, large, and a cola, please."

The old man nodded at the order and began cooking. Ayame, his daughter, placed the soda in front of the boy and a glass of water in front of their best customer.

"What's that taste like?" Naruto asked, gesturing to the soda.

"You've never had cola?" Sasuke asked, surprised. Although it was true that he hated sweets, he loved cola. Something about the energy it gave him. He didn't want to drink coffee or tea all of the time and cola gave him the same energy in a markedly cooler form.

"Never had the money to," the blonde admitted. "That and Warai said something about never letting me have any."

The Uchiha found himself drawn into the conversation. It was totally pointless since it didn't have to do with training or a mission, but at the same time it was intriguing.

"And you listen to her?"

"She said she'd smack me if she ever caught me drinking it," he said simply.

"Well she's not here now," Sasuke pointed out. He raised his hand to get Ayame's attention again. "One small cola for the dobe."

Ayame gave the boy an odd look. "Warai-chan told me never to serve Naruto carbonated beverages," she explained.

"She won't know," Naruto begged. He really wanted to know what the taste was like. Warai had a cola every now and then whenever she bumped into Asuma, Anko, Genma, or Raido, but Naruto was never around when that happened.

"I don't know…"

"Don't know what, Ayame?" the old man asked as he placed steaming bowls of ramen in front of the boys.

"Sasuke-san wants to order a cola for Naruto," she answered.

A frown settled over the ramen-maker's face. "Warai wouldn't like that, Naruto."

"Just a sip then," he pleaded. "I just want to know what it tastes like."

Sasuke took a sip of his own soda and frowned. Just what exactly did he start? Not only did Warai keep soda from the blonde, but she also told others not to give him any either? He'd heard of controlling females before, but this was strange.

"Here," he said, pushing his glass to Naruto. "Just take a sip."

"Yatta!"

"I hope you know what you're doing, Sasuke-san."

Sasuke pretended that he didn't hear the cook's worried mutter.

…

Warai panted as she ran over Konoha's rooftops. She landed on the street she and Sakura parted earlier to see the green-eyed kunoichi already there. The blonde pushed her hair out of her eyes and stared at the girl.

"You too?" she asked.

Sakura nodded and her pink hair bobbed up and down in the hasty bun she put it in. "My parents just left this morning for my uncle's wedding in Grass Country, so no one was home," she answered.

"We need to get to the boys and find out what's going on."

"I agree."

They were about to run to the ramen stand when a large explosion came from that very direction. Warai's eyes widened in fear as Sakura's heartbeat doubled. Each was scared for their respective loves and they ran full tilt for the source of the sound.

What they found was Sasuke trying to take the kunai Naruto held in his hands and the owner of Ichiraku and his daughter hiding behind their counter.

"Why don't you give me those kunai, Naruto?" Sasuke asked cautiously.

"Sasuke _never _calls Naruto by his name," Sakura whispered.

"Something's wrong," Warai said. She walked up to the boys and raised her eyebrows at them. "Naruto, what are you doing?"

The boy's blue eyes lit up at seeing his girlfriend and he jumped over Sasuke to stand by her side. He threw the kunai at Sakura, who thankfully disarmed the explosive notes attached to each one. The demon vessel then brought Warai into his arms and kissed the living daylights out of her.

Everyone on the street stared as the couple continued to kiss. A few thought that Naruto was forcing the girl, but that misconception was corrected when Warai's hands wove into the boy's hair and held on tight. Those closest to them heard the couple's purrs of contentment.

"What was that explosion, Sasuke-kun?" Sakura asked, walking to stand next to her crush and teammate.

"The dobe was trying to prove that he could juggle six kunai that had explosives attached to them," he replied. "How did you disarm the notes so quickly?"

"I'll teach you the trick later," she said absently. Sakura was amazed at the time Warai was managing to go without air as she and Naruto made out. "After Warai and Naruto disengage."

Everyone was red-faced when Warai pulled away from the blonde boy. The girl's smile was brilliant as she looked up into her boyfriend's face. But the smile quickly became a frown as she licked her lips and identified the taste that came from them.

"Naruto-kun," she sweetly whispered. "Why do you taste like cola?"

"Sasuke-teme gave me a couple of sips from his soda," he answered. Naruto was blissfully unaware of the murderous intent coming from the girl in his arms. "It really tastes good, Wa-chan. Why did you say that I should never drink it?"

Sasuke stopped his conversation with Sakura when he heard the dobe say his name. He looked at Warai and froze. He didn't know for sure, but he thought that the girl's eyes were gray. Right now, the orbs were a pale, icy blue.

"There's a reason why I told every vendor in Konoha not to give Naru-kun soda, Uchiha," she growled.

Warai placed a heavy hand on Naruto's shoulder. The blonde was hopping up and down in place and had a maniacal grin on his face. He kept licking his lips and his eyes kept on darting down Warai's body. The girl slapped his hand before he could grab her ass and glared at the Uchiha.

The raven-haired boy felt a chill on his skin and shook his head. It seemed the colder he felt, the lighter blue Warai's eyes became. "I thought that maybe he could handle a sip or two."

"Well obviously, he can't," she shot back. "Next time, you might want to listen to orders."

"Orders?" Sasuke repeated. He was starting to get mad. "What kind of female are you? Are you so insecure about losing the dobe that you have to control his life like this?"

"Okay!" Sakura said, stepping in between the two. "Time out! We can fight about this later. Right now, something else is more important."

"What's more important than kicking the Uchiha's ass?" Warai growled.

"Yeah!" Naruto echoed from behind the girl. He propped his chin on her shoulder and stared at Sakura with glazed eyes. "What's more important than kicking Sasuke-teme's ass?"

"Warai, don't you remember what you saw when you got home?" Sakura asked in exasperation.

The reminder knocked the other girl out of her anger and her eyes darkened to their normal gray color. If Sasuke had any doubts, they were dismissed as he watched the transformation.

_She has a _kekkei genkai_—a bloodline limit_, he realized. _Why didn't I know this before?_

"Naru-kun," Warai began. She looked worriedly at her boyfriend. Naruto's eyes were basically spinning in his head. She frowned and smacked him upside the head. "Pay attention, baka!"

Naruto focused on the girl in front of him and smiled. "When'd you get here, Wa-chan?"

"I'm on _his team_?" Sakura yelled. She ignored Warai's pointed look. "Tell them already, Warai. We need to alert the authorities as soon as possible."

"Tell them what?" Sasuke asked, recovered from his earlier shock.

"What happened?" Naruto wondered. The sugar high the soda gave him was slowly receding and his wits—such as they were—began to return to him.

"Our stuff's gone," Warai explained. "Naruto, everything's gone; our clothes, my books, the ramen."

"Someone took the ramen?" Naruto echoed.

"My things are gone too," Sakura added. "My entire room was cleaned out."

"My ramen?"

"Who would take your things?" Sasuke asked.

"We don't know," the green-eyed girl answered.

"The ramen's gone?"

"The scrolls are gone too, Naruto. All of them," Warai snapped.

The mention of scrolls knocked the blue-eyed boy out of his daze. Sasuke and Sakura looked on in wonder as Naruto stood up taller and saw determination enter his eyes.

"We need to get those scrolls back."

"We need to report this," Sasuke said.

"Look! There's Iruka-sensei and he's with two other chuunin," Warai pointed the teacher out to the others. "We can report this to them."

"IRUKA-SENSEI!" Naruto yelled as he ran to the man. The other three sighed and jogged to catch up to their teammate.

"Hello, everyone," the brown-haired man said. He looked at Team 7 and grinned. "Congratulations on passing. Kakashi-sensei is well-known for never passing a team. You guys made history today."

The other two chuunin with their ex-sensei exchanged looks and smiled at the new genin. One had a head of black hair that spiked every which way like a hedgehog, a black patch on his chin, and a bandage over the bridge of his nose. The second one wore his hitai-ate on a bandana he wrapped over his head and had a lock of brown hair that covered one eye.

"You don't look surprised to see us," Sakura noticed.

"And you look very satisfied with yourself," Warai added.

"Those are my things," Sasuke pointed out coldly.

Iruka looked down at the pieces of luggage he held and laughed nervously. The other chuunin with him were similarly burdened with boxes filled with items. The Uchiha emblem was on almost everything the trio held.

"What are you doing with my things?" Sasuke demanded.

"You didn't happen to take my and Naruto's stuff as well, did you?" Warai questioned.

"Or mine?" Sakura added.

Iruka stared at the four genin in front of him and sighed. "Report to the Hokage," he said. "He has special orders for you."

"But what about our things?" Naruto said. "Someone took our stuff. We need to find them fast!"

"Tell the Hokage when you see him," Iruka repeated. "Kotetsu, Izumo, and I have a mission to complete right now."

"Give me my stuff first."

"I'm sorry, Sasuke. I can't," Iruka apologized. "Ask the Hokage." The trio of chuunin disappeared before they could ask anymore questions.

"What do you think?" Naruto asked Warai.

"I think we need to pay the old man a visit."

* * *

"WE HAVE TO _WHAT_?"

The Third Hokage of Konoha hid his wince at the volume that came from the four genin in front of him and calmly wiped the spit from his face. He felt like laughing and wringing their necks at the same time. Frankly, he didn't know that the last remaining Uchiha could shout like that when not in a combat situation.

"You've been told repeatedly that a four-man genin team is unusual," he said. "We usually have the three-man cells because it helps balance the individual genin's talents. Also, when the jounin sensei is included, the teams equal to four people—which is the normal number for a shinobi squad. To have more than three genin in a team makes it difficult to learn teamwork."

"Then why didn't you just split us up or something?" Warai asked.

"Because if we did, none of you would be able to reach your full potiential."

The answer was short, curt, and to the point. The four ninja couldn't argue with that way of thinking—not even Naruto could find a way to complain.

"Teamwork is a large part of genin training and it's been established that a four-man team like yours is a special exception. I've decided that, in order to promote the growth of team unity, you four will live together until your team is disbanded."

"Where are we going to live?" Sakura asked.

"Iruka will lead you to your new home," the Hokage said. "Congratulations on passing."

"Yeah, sure," the genin answered.

"There better be more than one bathroom," Warai murmured. "Or there'll be hell to pay."

**A/N:**

**Oji-san: **(Japanese) Literally "Old Man" it can mean anything from "father" or "uncle" to "male stranger who is older than me"

Okay, so I'm not going to update for about two weeks. My family's going to the "Old Country" and I have to go with them.

That means no updating because they don't have computers where we're going. Just internet cafes that have really long loading times and I don't wanna deal with that.


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Naruto

**

* * *

Chapter 11**

After the meeting with the Hokage, Iruka and the two chuunin who helped him move their belongings came by to show them to the way to their new dwelling. The three men led them to the western part of the village near the woods and relatively close to the Hokage Palace.

The four genin of Team 7 stood in shock as they stared at their new home. It was a traditional, sprawling, one-story Japanese estate. The group entered past the gate and into a quiet, but large, courtyard. A koi pond dominated the northeast corner while bamboo grew on near the western wall. The dirt ground was lightly packed, but not too hard. Iruka explained that the previous owners used to practice their taijustu there.

"What happened to the previous owners, Iruka-sensei?" Sakura asked.

A pained expression crossed his scarred face and he rubbed the back of his head. "They were KIA, Sakura," he said.

"Then why are we allowed to stay here? Shouldn't the next of kin live here?"

"The property has been placed in trust for the sole heir, Warai-san," the chuunin named Kotetsu answered. "Until he comes of age, the Sandaime can use the land as he sees fit."

The others accepted the explanation given to them, but Warai caught an edge to the chuunin's voice and noticed that he specifically mentioned the Sandaime rather than saying 'Hokage.' The girl tucked the distinction away to dissect later.

"Your belongings are just inside the foyer," Iruka said. "There are plenty of bedrooms, but the Hokage wishes that you occupy the east wing of the estate only. If a door is locked, then you may not enter, but other than that, you four have free reign over the place. Try not to break anything, Naruto. It will come out of your salary—now that you have one—if you do." With that last warning, the chuunin left and the genin split up to explore their new home.

"Room or food?" Warai asked her blonde companion.

"Room," Naruto answered, determination in his voice. Sasuke and Sakura were slightly surprised. They didn't get to finish their ramen back at Ichiraku before they met with the Hokage—the dobe must be starving by now.

"Alright," Warai said. She and Naruto gathered their belongings and turned in the direction of the east wing. "You two don't mind if Naru-kun and I share a suite do you?"

Sakura shook her head while Sasuke scowled.

"Just try to keep the volume down at night," he said. "Some of us here are still virgins."

"We are not like that, teme!" Naruto shouted. He glared at the Uchiha and growled. "And I don't like that you even _think _that I would do that with Wa-chan!"

"Sorry," the dark-haired prodigy said, no trace of apology in his voice. "I guess I got the wrong idea from the way you kissed her today and the fact that you're going to share a room."

"Kisses are different than what you're thinking, Uchiha," Warai responded coldly. "We're twelve, not eighteen. We don't go that far."

"I love and respect Wa-chan too much to go that far," Naruto pressed. He was still pissed at Sasuke's presumption, but Warai's hand on his shoulder calmed him—sort of. "When we're older, then we'll talk about it. But right now, I just want to be with her. And _not _in the way you think."

"Besides," the girl said. "I said that we'd share a _suite, _not a room. Get your head out of the gutter, Uchiha." With that last sentence, the couple stalked off.

Sasuke stood there for a few moments staring at the ground. He knew that he'd been snarky and jumped to conclusions. He felt the weight of a malevolent glare on his back and turned to find Haruno Sakura holding her own things and tapping her foot.

"I never knew you were such a hentai, Sasuke-kun," she said before she went down the same hallway where Naruto and Warai disappeared.

The Uchiha refrained from kicking the small cupboard that held their sandals. He couldn't help but hear a faint sound of disappointment in Sakura's voice. Grabbing his training bag, the raven-haired boy went in search of the estate's dojo.

_I don't care about them, _he told himself. _Why should I care about what they think of me anyway? _

The Uchiha found the dojo, but couldn't get the vision of a certain green-eyed teammate out of his mind.

* * *

"Stupid, sexually starved Sasuke. He's probably as frigid as my _Hyoton _(Ice Element) jutsus."

Naruto ignored the grumbles of his girlfriend and carefully removed a medium sized wooden box from one of the many cardboard boxes they dragged from the foyer. He breathed a sigh of relief when he noticed that the explosive tags on the box were undisturbed. Quickly and competently, he disarmed the tags and opened the box.

"They're alright," he whispered.

The contents of the box were about two-dozen small scrolls. Some were written in his messy scrawl while others were in Warai's more elegant hand, but all were full of jutsus and pieces of shinobi wisdom the couple managed to copy over the past four years. He pulled out each scroll, mentally checking off his list, until he reached the last two. One contained the jutsus he and Warai took from the Forbidden Scroll the night they learned about Kyuubi. The second was the scroll the old man gave him on his last birthday.

The emblems that kept the scroll sealed were that of his parents. He gently ran his finger over the Uzumaki swirl and the strange, ornate silver half circle that sat below it. Every now and then, the Hokage would give him a scroll saying that it belonged to his parents. Naruto loved these scrolls.

However, the scrolls were sealed in a way that they only opened when he put the right amount of chakra into the emblems with his pinky finger. For someone who had as much trouble with the art of fine tuning chakra as Naruto, this was tricky and he'd only opened two of the six scrolls the old man had given him so far. It wasn't the amount of chakra that was the problem, as Warai told him one day, it was the fact that he had to focus it into his _pinky._

"Subtlety isn't your strong suit, Naru-kun," Warai said, suddenly appearing behind him.

"Wah!" Naruto jumped at the sound of her voice and managed to drop the scroll. He turned around and cried, "Don't do that!"

Warai laughed at the look on her boyfriend's face and winked at him. "I finished unpacking our stuff," she said. "Your bedroom's on the right."

Naruto looked in that direction and saw his posters tacked onto the wall through the open door. The couple stood in the small drawing room that connected the two bedrooms and one bathroom in the large suite. Sharing a bathroom wouldn't be a problem for them since they lived together for so long. Naruto just hoped that he could sleep without Warai's body next to him to keep him cool.

"C'mon," she said, interrupting his thoughts. Warai held up another cardboard box and tilted her head. "Let's get this ramen into the kitchen and eat."

"Okay!"

* * *

Sakura was amazed at the size of the place. She'd visited the Hyuuga compound once when she and Hinata were paired for an assignment Iruka gave them and the rosette-haired kunoichi was absolutely _sure _that their new home was bigger than the Hyuuga's. She passed by the suite of rooms she heard Naruto and Warai moving around in and entered the room opposite it.

The girl carefully put her belongings on the floor and turned around to retrieve the rest. Sakura didn't want to take a good look at her chosen living space until she got everything from the foyer. Once there, she noticed that Sasuke's things were still on the ground. She shrugged and grabbed the boxes that belonged to her, but used her foot to push the Uchiha's belongings to the side of the room.

_He may not want to put his stuff away, _she thought. _But if someone came by they might trip over his mess. _

She wondered at her changing perception of her obsession now that they were on the same team. This time yesterday, Sakura was planning and plotting all the ways she could get Sasuke to like her. Now, she couldn't even drum up a little enthusiasm knowing that they were living together. Seeing the way he acted when she and Warai took the bells from Kakashi and his nastiness towards the other two members of their team might have something to do with it.

She knew the Uchiha was cold and sullen—it was part of his appeal, actually—but she didn't know that he could be cruel and insulting like that either.

Sakura shook her head. She was getting a headache thinking about this and she needed to organize her room and eat dinner. The kunoichi entered the room and shut the sliding door. She found herself in a small drawing room. A square tea table dominated the center of the room while bookshelves covered most of the wall space. Three more sliding doors were on each side of the room. Closer inspection showed that the one on the left opened into a bathroom, the one on the right led to the bedroom, and the one directly across from the hallway led to a small, private rock garden.

_It's beautiful, _Sakura mused. _Perfect for meditation._

She went back inside and began to put her books, scrolls, and various knickknacks into the bookshelves. Unlike her ex-best friend, Ino, Sakura didn't have much in the clothing department, so it wouldn't take long to put her clothes in the closet. But her books were another matter altogether. When she came across a framed picture of Sasuke she had, Sakura stared into his brooding face and frowned. Sighing, she put the frame on the bookshelf.

Right behind the beginning medical scrolls she got from the Hokage as a graduation gift.

The sounds of arguing and the smell of cooking food brought Sakura out of her thoughts. She cautiously walked toward the source of both the sounds and the smell. The girl was hungry, but she didn't want to get in the middle of an argument to get her food.

"That's too much!" Warai yelled at her boyfriend.

"Is not!" Naruto yelled back, holding an almost empty bag of naruto (the food) over a large pot.

"You might love that stuff, but what about the others?" she asked. "Even if they accept ramen for dinner, that much naruto is pushing it!"

"Actually," Sakura butted in from the doorway. "I like naruto—the food, anyway."

The couple turned to the girl and both blondes grinned. Before she knew it, Sakura was sitting at the table, a large bowl of ramen in front of her, and caught in a debate over what made the best ramen dishes. She laughed over Warai and Naruto's antics and ate the surprisingly wonderful meal.

One thing was for sure; mealtimes would never be boring living with these two.

The laughing group hardly noticed when Sasuke silently filled a bowl of ramen for himself and left the room.

* * *

"Konbanwa!"

The trio in the kitchen looked up as the doorbell chimed throughout their home. Naruto ran to answer the door while the two girls walked at a more leisurely pace. They entered the foyer to find Naruto, along with a recently showered Sasuke, greeting a tall man with a senbon needle in his mouth.

"Konbanwa, Genma-san," Warai replied, bowing. Sakura and Sasuke followed their teammate's cue—although they had no idea who this person was. Both genin realized that this was a jounin, based on his clothing, but other than that, the man was a complete stranger. Naruto just grinned at the man and ushered him inside.

"Welcome to Team 7's home, Genma-san," the blonde boy said. "What brings you here this fine evening?"

Genma had to bite down hard on his senbon to keep from laughing at the boy's earnest expression. _He must've been watching a movie with a butler in it or something, _he thought. Naruto's penchant for acting like characters from movies he'd watched was well known among the bodyguards assigned to watch him.

"I have something for you and Warai," he said, holding up two large bags. He noticed Sasuke and lifted a third bag for his inspection. "There's one for you also, Sasuke-san."

"What are they and who are they from?" Sasuke asked, more cautious than his peers about the unexpected gifts.

"They're from your, ahem, _guardians—_graduation gifts, if you'd like to call them that," Genma answered.

"Guardians?" Sasuke and Sakura questioned. The Uchiha wanted to ask the jounin more, but he was stopped by the distinct poofing sound of a teleportation jutsu and the man was gone.

"What's this about guardians?" Sakura asked.

Naruto and Warai wandered into the main living room and sat down at the large tea table in the center. Warai looked up at her teammates while Naruto pawed through his loot.

"You guys honestly didn't think that the Hokage would let orphans live _totally _without adult supervision, did you?" she asked.

"Why didn't I notice?" Sasuke asked, sitting down. Sakura left the room to get some tea for everyone. Naruto continued his pawing.

"You were too busy brooding," was Naruto's muffled answer; his head was buried in his gift bag.

"Just accept the gift, Uchiha," Warai said. "They probably just gave you things you need as a genin since they don't know you as well as they do us."

"So you know these guardians?" Sakura asked, placing the tea set on the table. She competently poured everyone some tea and watched as Naruto opened his gifts.

"Yup!" Naruto said, holding up a set of kunai. "We've been in contact with them for the past four years. These are probably from Anko-san."

Warai looked at the sharp knives and nodded. "She gave me these shuriken," she said. "But Kurenai gave me a new needlepoint pattern book."

"She gave me a sewing kit and some new Uzumaki patches," Naruto added. "What did Kurenai give you, Sasuke?"

Sasuke looked into his bag and found nothing but weapons and the occasional scroll. "I don't know," he admitted. "I don't know them well enough to know who gave me what."

"Kurenai-sensei is one of your guardians?"

"Yeah," Warai answered absently. She was engrossed in her new pattern book. "Most of the elite jounin are—including Kakashi-sensei."

"He's probably the one who gave me these," Naruto laughed, holding up a trio of books; one was titled _Rope Traps and How to Avoid Them._

"Y'know," Warai murmured as she looked at a meditation scroll from Morino Ibiki. "These are probably the last gifts they'll give us for a while."

"Why do you say that, Wa-chan?"

Warai looked at her boyfriend and tapped his forehead protector. "We're genin now," she explained. "We're adults in the eyes of the law. Therefore, we don't need guardians anymore."

"Oh," he sighed. The blonde was momentarily saddened at the news. The idea of someone watching over him, however distantly, was a comfort the twelve-year-old did not want to give up.

Sakura was surprised by the sad look on Naruto's face. She was used to the idiotic smiles he used during their Academy days. Sasuke was silent as well while Warai continued to look through her bag.

"I'm sure that they'll still care about you, Naruto," Sakura whispered, placing her hand on his shoulder. She almost pulled back when he turned to her with a glowing smile. This one was different than the ones she knew—this one was genuine.

"I know that, Sakura-chan," Naruto said. "I'm just a little sad that I can't con them into buying me things anymore."

"Really, Naru-kun," Warai said. She was standing up, holding her new katana to the light. "You get the strangest ideas sometimes. No one ever said that we had to stop conning them into stuff like that. Only that they wouldn't buy us as _much _stuff now that we're adults."

"Nice katana," Sasuke complemented, whistling through his teeth. "Who gave you that?"

"Hayate-san," she answered, smugly. "He knows I love swordplay."

"Oi, Sasuke-teme," Naruto said, sitting next to the brunette. "If you show me your swag, I'll be happy to point out who gave you what. We can even trade stuff if you have something I like and vice versa."

"Why would I want to know that, dobe?"

"So that you can write them thank you cards."

"Thank you cards?"

"Yeah," Warai answered. "This is the first time they've given you anything right? You don't want them to think that you're rude, now do you?"

"Anyway," Naruto said. "Since they all got you basically the same thing, it's a bit trickier to say thanks to the right person. But don't worry, I can usually tell who bought what by the maker's marks on the weapons and what kind of scroll they gave you. See these senbon?"

Sasuke nodded when the blonde held up a pack of the acupuncture needles.

"You might think that these came from Genma-san—you know, the jounin who dropped these bags off—but actually, these are from Anko-san. The little dragons etched into the sides are a dead giveaway."

"Now this," Warai added, holding up a scroll. "Is definitely from Genma-san."

"Normally Ibiki-san is the one who gives out interrogation scrolls or scrolls that will strengthen your psyche so that you don't give in to _other _people's interrogations," Naruto said. "But the title gives the clue that it's from Genma-san."

Sasuke took the scroll from the girl and read the title. "_Gaining Information From Female Interrogation Subjects Using Your Natural Charms…_what the?"

"What a perverted title for an interrogation scroll," Sakura murmured. She looked over Sasuke's shoulder as the boy opened the parchment. Both of their faces turned bright red as they read the first few sentences.

"Genma-san's like that," Naruto said, holding in his laughter. He'd learned years ago never to open any scrolls the senbon-sucking jounin gave him and burn _all _the scrolls he gave to Warai.

"Naruto, why don't you write down what Sasuke got and who gave them to him?" Warai suggested.

"What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to play—I mean _train_—with my new weapons," she answered. "Sakura-chan, do you want to join me?" Sakura nodded. Both girls stood up, but before they left, Sakura turned to the two boys still seated.

"Since we're going to train and you're just sitting there," she said. "You've got kitchen duty tonight."

"Actually, the boys will have kitchen duty for the rest of the week," Warai corrected. "Sakura-chan and I will be too busy training in the evenings to clean up after dinner."

"What?" Sasuke demanded. "You and Naruto left the kitchen a mess. And I wanted to train in the evenings too. What gives you the right to just—" Sasuke's tirade was halted by Naruto's hand on his shoulder.

"Wa-chan's still mad with us about the cola thing. Don't piss her off," Naruto hissed into the Uchiha's ear. "Just accept it for now. Besides, she said that it's just for this week. Next week will be the girls' turn."

Sasuke sat back down and stared at the dobe. He had a point.

**

* * *

A/N:**

I'm back! Yay! Sorry about the long wait. As I said, I was taken to the old country by my family. The Philippines is not somewhere you want to go for early summer, let me tell you…great country, but HOT AND HUMID!

So this chapter feels like filler…but it's not! I swear it's not. All will become clear in due time (I hope).

/scoffs/ No, I don't have writer's block coming on…(I hope)

**naruto—**(food) a steamed fish-paste cake that is sliced to put in soup; like ramen.

**konbanwa—**a salutation meaning "good evening."


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer: **Am I Japanese? Can I draw worth a damn? Since the answer is no to both questions, then you must conclude that I did not create and therefore do not own Naruto.

**

* * *

Chapter 12**

Sasuke woke as he always did—early, instantly, and without any knowledge about what dreams or nightmares he might have entertained during the long night. He wasn't sure if it was a defense mechanism brought on by too many nightmares as a child or if he simply forgot how to dream, but the raven-haired teen slept like the dead. He wasn't sure if it was a good thing for a normal person to do so, but considering he was anything but normal, Sasuke simply accepted it as a part of his life.

He went through his morning routine silently. Shower, change, hair—it was always the same for him. The room was stark in its decorations—only a silk banner of his clan bearing the names of his parents as well as his brother and himself created by his mother graced the cream colored walls and the bonsai plants Iruka-sensei gave him once in a while sat in the corners of the room. The small shrine he kept for his parents was against the south wall—so that it faced the Uchiha district and their old home. The weapons and scrolls he received the day before lay in neat piles on the bookshelves of the small drawing room of his suite.

He noticed a pack of note cards on the tea table along with a list of names and remembered Warai's insistence that he write thank you notes to each person who gave him a gift. The reminder that he no longer lived by himself caused the young Uchiha to frown. He also noted a small brazier near the table that kept the room warm in the early morning chill.

Sasuke remembered placing the small coal burning device there himself and turned to pick up the small teapot he prepared the night before. The tea was a ritual his mother always had in the mornings and the Uchiha felt a measure of comfort in doing the same. Although if asked, he would deny such feelings as weak sentiment and claim that tea was helpful in waking him up.

When the tea was done, Sasuke poured himself a cup and walked over to the sliding door on the other side of the room. Silently opening the portal, he looked over the serene beauty of the rock garden he found the day before. The rock garden was one of the main reasons he chose this suite of rooms—despite the fact that it was close to the suite occupied by Naruto and Warai.

He enjoyed quiet times like these. The sun had only begun to rise over the horizon and—since the estate was on the western part of the village and their rooms were in the east wing—Sasuke had a beautiful vision of the sky changing from darkest indigo into the soft oranges and light blue of the coming day. He sipped his tea and watched the sky.

The sound of a sliding door opening caused the Uchiha to tense and bring his hand to his thigh—where a kunai was always strapped no matter what the time of day. He turned his head slowly to watch as Sakura, dressed in a soft green yukata, come out and kneel on the wooden porch that ran along the length outside of their rooms.

He didn't know that his room was next to hers.

Sakura seemed entirely unaware that the object of her affections lounged so close to her. Sasuke's frown deepened as he realized that her attention was either on the sight before them or focused entirely inward towards her own thoughts. A complete disregard for your surroundings was not a trait desired in any shinobi.

Sakura sat and stared at the rock garden while Sasuke stood and stared at her. The air around them held a slight heaviness in it. Not an uncomfortable one—just an _expectant _one. Sasuke ignored it, while Sakura simply basked in it. They remained this way until the sky was clear blue and the sun finally showed her face over the horizon. Sasuke left before the girl could turn her head and find him there, but didn't close his door.

* * *

Warai looked over when she heard a shuffling near the kitchen door and gave a terse nod to the figure standing there. She held up the spatula she held and gestured to the omelet she was making.

"Do you want anything in particular?"

Sasuke looked at the eggs and shook his head. "I'll just have some of the left over ramen from last night."

Warai laughed at that and competently placed the large omelet on a plate that held several more. She brought that and the rice she made on the table and set down four bowls.

"What's so funny?" Sasuke asked as he poured himself a cup of coffee. His morning tea was to relax him—he needed coffee to sustain him.

"You," Warai answered. She placed jugs of orange juice and milk on the table and sat down. "With both Naruto and me here, what makes you think that we have any left over ramen?"

Sasuke felt a small smile break through his mask, but hid it with a sip of coffee. He turned to find the table set and breakfast ready.

"You set a good table, Warai," he commented as he sat down across from her. He remembered her dream to have a large family and thought of his own will to rebuild his clan. "You'll make a good wife one day."

"Just not yours," a voice growled from the doorway.

Both teens turned to find Naruto leaning against the doorjamb with his thumbs in his pockets. Sasuke had to admit that the short blonde looked slightly menacing now that he no longer dressed in that hideous orange jumpsuit and instead wore that black vest/jacket that showed the muscles in his arms. Warai simply blushed at the look in her boyfriend's eyes and stared down at her plate.

Both of them tossed and turned last night—having slept with the other nearby for four years made it uncomfortable to sleep without the other—until Naruto solved the problem by slipping into Warai's bed. She still couldn't get the memory of this morning's snuggle session out of her head. Not to mention the fact that Naruto looked especially yummy with his hair shadowing his eyes in the "post-shower" look he sported at the moment.

Naruto let an uncharacteristic smirk settle on his face at the sight of Warai's blush and walked over to kiss his girlfriend on the head. He ran his hand through her dark blonde hair as he sat down next to her—at the head of the table. He nodded at Sasuke and felt a small measure of satisfaction at the other boy's confused look.

_Bet he thought that I'd be loud and annoying in the morning, _the kitsune thought to himself.

Sakura walked in then and sat down next to Warai. The two girls murmured their 'good mornings' and the boys noticed that Sakura's previously waist length hair was now cut to just above her shoulders. Sasuke admitted to himself—_very _deep within himself—that the look suited the girl better than her long hair did.

"When did you cut your hair, Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked around a mouthful of eggs and rice.

The rosette-haired girl winced at the sight of half-chewed food and paused to swallow her own mouthful before answering. "Last night during training Warai-chan cut it for me," she said.

"She told me that she used to keep it short, but grew it for—um—_personal_ reasons," Warai explained. She hesitated to reveal the fact that Sakura grew her hair because she heard that Sasuke liked girls with long hair, but everyone at the table knew the truth anyway.

"So why cut it now?" Naruto wondered.

"It was getting in my way," Sakura replied. She glanced at Warai and smiled. "Warai might be able to fight with her long hair, but I can't. The feel of it sticking to my skin is too uncomfortable."

Naruto grunted in acknowledgement and continued to shovel food into his mouth. The girls ate at a more leisurely pace and Sasuke followed suit. Breakfast was mostly silent after that and the morning progressed quietly.

"Y'know, Naruto," Sakura noted as she put her bowl in the sink. "I would have figured you to be all energy and hyper-ness in the morning."

"Nah," the blonde admitted. "I only get hyper after I train or when I'm on a mission."

"That last part's only theory," Warai said. "We haven't _been _on a mission yet."

"And we won't get one anytime soon if you don't hurry up with the clean up," Sasuke said, joining the conversation for the first time. "The dobe and I will train in the courtyard until you girls are done."

"What?" Naruto asked. Sasuke grabbed the blonde's arm and pulled him to the front of the house while the girls stared in wonder.

"Figures," Warai said, hand on her hip. "The first thing he says to all of us and it's about missions and training."

"He stuck us with KP…" Sakura noted.

"We stuck him with Kitchen Patrol last night," Warai replied, picking up the empty rice bowl. "It's only fair."

They both heard the sound of a body slamming into a wall and Naruto's yell of "TEME!" and turned to each other with a smile.

"At last the day starts," Warai joked. The sound of another body hitting a wall came through the open windows and this time they heard Sasuke grunt with pain.

"Let's get these dishes clean before they're too sore for a mission," Sakura commented. Warai nodded and together the two kunoichi cleared the table to the sounds of the early morning birds and the curses of two genin resounding through the air.

* * *

Five shinobi—four of which were genin—walked into the foyer and took off their sandals before entering the main living room of the house. The two female members of the group split off to gather a few things from their rooms while the two younger males sat at the tea table in the center of the room. The lone adult of the group sat at a window seat and pulled out an orange book with a warning circle slashed through it on the cover.

The girls returned with their items and the boys left to change their clothes. When they returned, two pairs of pants—one black, the other white—landed in the laps of the females. The girls smiled in memory of how and why the pants needed to be mended and started on their task.

One of the youths pulled out a dull kunai and sat with a sharpening stone in his lap. The others simply tossed their own dulled weapons at the teen, who grunted in acknowledgement and proceeded to sharpen each and every one.

The other youth, the only one who had yet to reach the age of 13, opened a package to reveal a long dark trench coat. He picked up a large red patch and began sewing the emblem onto the back of the coat with even stitches.

Silence reigned for at least thirty minutes. Once everyone was immersed in his or her own task, they heard the beginnings of the now familiar rant that was their late afternoon ritual.

"Today's missions were a complete waste of time!" the blonde boy muttered as he finished sewing his family crest onto the back of the coat.

"Yes, they were," the lone adult agreed.

"_Anyone _could've gotten that stupid cat!"

"And weeded that yard…"

"And cleaned up that riverbank…"

"And ushered that wedding."

The list of menial tasks was stated by each of the teens seated on the floor. None of which looked up from their individual tasks.

"But the food at the reception was good," Kakashi stated after a few moments of quiet passed.

"And we did get our revenge in the end," Sakura laughed, finished stitching the tears in Sasuke's pants.

"The family won't ask us to pay for the damages, right, Kakashi-sensei?" Warai asked worriedly. She'd finished with Naruto's pants fifteen minutes ago and was now in the middle of her latest needlepoint project.

"I don't see how they could demand that of us," Sasuke replied. He tested the sharpness of the kunai he held and passed it to Sakura. The brunette ignored the slight tingle he felt when their fingers brushed and went on to the next kunai in the pile.

"Sasuke's right," Kakashi agreed. "That gazebo was slated for demolition after the reception anyway."

"Serves them right for serving Naru-kun cola anyway," Warai muttered. "I _specifically _told them not to give him any."

Sasuke and Naruto shared a look and the blonde held back a smile. The Uchiha simply shrugged his shoulders in apparent confusion. He enjoyed thwarting Warai's attempts at controlling Naruto's soda consumption and the chaos that reigned whenever the blonde _did _manage to drink a sip was wholly amusing.

The raven-haired teen could no longer deny the obvious: living with these people was changing him.

Sakura stood up and passed Sasuke his pants. She gave him a small smile and kept down a blush when he nodded in gratitude. The kunoichi looked over to their sensei and asked softly, "Are you staying for dinner, Kakashi-sensei?"

"Depends," the gray-haired jounin replied. "Whose turn is it to cook?"

"Mine," she answered. Sakura knew—they all did—that their sensei's question was merely a formality. He would eat dinner with them regardless of the chef for the night.

Kakashi placed a bookmark into his book and turned to smile at the girl. "Then the answer is: yes. Do you need anything from the market?"

Sakura thought for a moment and shook her head. "I don't think so."

"We're low on green tea," Sasuke said. "As well as udon noodles and naruto."

"Okay," the jounin said, standing and stretching. "I'll go and get those. Do you have any sake around here?"

Four pairs of eyes stared at the jounin in silent reprimand.

Kakashi scratched the back of his head and sighed. Asuma's team didn't care and broke the rules regarding alcohol consumption on a regular basis. Kurenai's team occasionally drank during Clan functions—since all of the members of Team 10 came from noble houses, it wasn't that surprising. But somehow, Kakashi managed to get the _only _genin team in existence that truly stood against underage drinking.

The only reason the man kept accepting his team's invitations to dinner was that each and every one of them was a better cook than he was himself. Which really wasn't saying much, but nonetheless, all of the genin on his team really _were _exceptional cooks.

"I'll get myself a bottle then," he murmured as he slipped on his sandals and left the estate.

* * *

Sakura sat on the small porch overlooking her rock garden and sighed in contentment. Early morning dew shown on the few plants in the courtyard and birds chirped their 'hellos' to the dawn. She didn't mind the chill in the air and simply enjoyed the daily wonder that was the sunrise.

The girl felt the familiar presence of Sasuke settle next to her and bit back a smile. Ever since their second morning in their new home, the Uchiha shared the sunrise with her. She knew, of course, that he watched her that first day. Her chakra control was near perfect and she always knew where he was—she was _that _sensitive to him.

Now, almost a month later, they continued to share this quiet time together.

Sakura was surprised that Sasuke tolerated her presence in the mornings, but decided that he probably did because she never spoke during their sunrise meetings. Nor did she speak of them later in the day. She felt a tug on her light green yukata and turned to stare at her silent companion.

This was different than their normal routine.

Sasuke watched as Sakura's confused gaze traveled from his eyes to the cup of tea he held. Sakura took the cup and silently drank. He tried to convince himself that he was just sharing with her because he accidentally made too much, but the excuse rang hollowly through his mind. Making too much tea didn't explain the extra cup he took from the kitchen the night before. Out of the corner of his eyes, the raven-haired teen noticed that the pale pink of the girl's hair matched nicely with the ever-lightening sky above them, but remained silent.

Sakura knew that her companion drank tea every morning. She just never expected him to share the beverage with her. She felt a minute shift in their relationship and felt a warm glow settle in her stomach. Although Sasuke's cold attitude disillusioned her at the beginning, as time went by, she found herself admiring the teen as a person and not just as a symbol. Her obsession was quickly turning into the love she claimed it was.

Watching the tender ways Warai and Naruto treated each other reminded the girl how she wanted to be with her love. Even though the couple argued as much as they embraced, Sakura could sense the deep respect and affection they had for each other.

She wanted that sort of relationship with Sasuke.

As the sun climbed higher in the sky and they heard the sounds of Warai and Naruto moving around in the house, Sasuke and Sakura remained silent and enjoyed the morning—and each other. They rose simultaneously and turned toward their respective rooms. Before Sakura disappeared to get ready for the day, Sasuke's voice stopped her.

"Ino's wrong," he rasped in his deep voice. "Short hair suits you."

Sakura blushed as he entered his room and went to get ready for the day.

**

* * *

A/N:**

I know, not a lot of Warai x Naruto stuff this chapter, but I'd like to get a bit of Sasuke x Sakura in there too.

Again, this isn't filler…everything has a purpose in this story. I swear!

Okay, age description time…just cuz even _I _was getting confused

Naruto—12 years old—DOB October 10

Sasuke—13 years old—DOB July 23

Sakura—13 years old—DOB March 28

Warai—13 years old—DOB March 10

I mentioned that Warai is seven months older than Naruto…right? Well, she is. They graduated the Academy in late June…so there! Sasuke's birthday passes in this chapter, so he's now 13.

Weird how the boys are younger than the girls, huh?


	13. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer: **I no own.

**

* * *

Chapter 13**

"Good job on retrieving that cat, Team 7," Iruka said. None of the amusement he felt showed on his tan features as the generously padded Lady of Fire Country paid Kotetsu the standard fee for rescuing her _dear_ pet. Although Kurenai's Team 10 was more equipped for tracking missions, the chuunin delighted in assigning every mission to do with that particular feline to Naruto's team.

_Just consider it payback for all of those pranks you pulled, Naruto, _Iruka laughed silently.

The Hokage kept his lips from curling at the impatient looks on Naruto and Warai's faces. This was the third time this week they had to go after that cat and probably the twentieth time this month the boys had to endure the sharp claws of the enraged animal. For some reason, the girls would never earn a scratch and Kakashi blankly refused to go near the beast.

"Now," he said, blowing smoke from the side of his mouth. "Your next mission is to tend to the garden of—"

"NO!" Naruto yelled, slashing his arms through the air. "No more! I didn't become a ninja to become a gardener! I want to get something beyond D rank missions!"

Sasuke and Sakura sweat-dropped. While they agreed with their teammate, they knew that complaining like a spoiled child wasn't the way to convince the others that they were ready for more advanced missions.

"You are only genin," Iruka shouted from his position next to the Hokage. "Missions are separated according to rank and as genin you—"

"Get the lowest rank," Warai interrupted boldly. "We know all of this, Iruka-sensei—you _were _our teacher and you're a good one. But D rank missions are boring! Give us something that will challenge us!"

The Hokage sat there for a moment and judged the genin in front of him. In reality, this group was closer strength wise to chuunin than any of the other genin cells in the village. The mission he was considering for them wasn't that difficult—only a C rank one—but it was _where _the mission would take them that posed a problem.

"I _do _have a mission that you might be able to perform," he began. The four genin immediately perked up. "But I'm not so sure you all can do it."

"We can do anything!" Naruto yelled. He was seconded by the nods of his teammates.

"It's a simple escort mission," Iruka said, reading a scroll. "You're to escort a bridge builder to the Country of Waves and protect him until he finishes his task." Warai stiffened at the mention of the Wave Country. Everyone, with the exception of Kotetsu and Izumo, noticed the movement (or lack thereof).

"Do you still think that you can do anything?" the Hokage asked.

Warai stared at the man and straightened her shoulders. She was a shinobi of Konoha now, a citizen of Fire Country. Traveling to her old homeland should mean nothing to her.

"We can do _anything_," she reassured him.

Sarutobi nodded and motioned to some unseen person. "Let Tazuna-san in," he ordered.

Team 7 turned when the door opened to reveal a large, but somewhat elderly, man. He held a bottle in his hand and leaned drunkenly against the doorjamb. The genin watched in disapproval as he brought the bottle to his mouth for a messy swig. The odor of rice wine reached them even though he was on the other side of the room.

"These are the people who are going to escort me?" he asked in a drunken leer. "They're nothing but a bunch of brats. Especially that short one with the dumb look on his face."

All of the genin stiffened at the 'brats' comment, but Naruto grinned and laughed.

"Who's the short one with the dumb looking face?" he wondered. His laughter subsided when Warai, Sasuke and Sakura stood in a line next to him. He realized that the man was making fun of him and tried to launch himself at the bridge builder.

"You can't attack the man who paid us to protect him, baka!" Sasuke yelled, grabbing onto Naruto's arm.

"A mission's a mission," Sakura added from his other side. "And this one's a C rank. Do you want Kiba's team to get this one?"

Naruto's struggles ceased only when Warai stood in front of him and wrapped her arms around her boyfriend's neck.

"We're going to Wave Country, Naru-kun," she whispered. "I need you to help me get through this. Please, I can't go there without you."

Only Sasuke and Sakura were close enough to hear her actual words, but Iruka, Kakashi, and Sarutobi could only guess the gist of it.

"Go and gather your supplies," Kakashi instructed his team. To Tazuna he said, "We'll meet you at the village gates in an hour." The genin and the bridge builder left.

Iruka and Kakashi stared at the Hokage as if he'd lost his mind.

"Are you sure about this Hokage-sama?" Iruka asked.

"A mission to Wave Country might not be the best thing right now—or ever," Kakashi added.

Sarutobi blew out a stream of smoke and stared at the two ninja. "If shinobi cannot travel where shinobi are needed, then what good are they? But Kakashi, if the worst should happen…"

The Copy Ninja understood his commander's silent order and nodded his acceptance to the condition added to his team's mission. Kakashi and Iruka bowed at their leader's wisdom and the silver-haired ninja left to gather his own belongings. Iruka looked down at the mission logs in front of him and lapsed into silence.

Kotetsu and Izumo shared a glance and shrugged. This was just one of those many instances that occurred around the two secretaries that did not include them. As two of the chuunin under the Hokage's direct employment, they were used to such situations.

As two of the chuunin under the Hokage's direct employment, their discretion was not only assured, the question was not even relevant.

* * *

"What was _that _all about?" Sasuke asked as Warai and Sakura packed medical supplies in their packs.

"What was what about?" Warai repeated. Naruto came into the room and handed her the katana Hayate gave her. She murmured her thanks and strapped the weapon to her back.

"What's so strange about Wave Country?" Sakura questioned. "I know that something about it is significant. You wouldn't wear that ring with Kirigakure's symbol on it otherwise."

The four genin stood in their kitchen. Warai and Naruto faced Sasuke and Sakura over the table they ate at every morning. One couple was demanding answers while the other couple was desperate to keep their secrets to themselves.

"It's where I used to live," Warai admitted. "Before I moved here to Konoha. I haven't been back since my parents were killed."

"There's more to it than that," Sasuke accused. "I'm sure of it."

"Even if there were," Naruto said, placing a protective arm around his girlfriend. "We don't have the time to go over it and it's none of your business in the first place."

"It is if it affects the mission," Sakura announced. She didn't want to cause her new friend pain—she could see that the mere mention of Wave Country affected the girl—but the mission had to come first.

"It won't," Warai said, determined. _At least, I hope it won't, _she whispered to herself.

"It'd better not," Sasuke growled out.

"We have ten minutes to get to the gate," Sakura reminded.

Team 7 left their home behind and headed out for their first real mission outside Konoha's gates.

* * *

The group walked silently along the road in formation.

Sasuke and Warai acted as scouts. Sasuke had the keenest sense of direction out of the four genin and Warai knew the way to Wave Country better than anyone, except for Kakashi. It didn't matter that she hadn't left Konoha since she first entered it, the girl knew the way to her homeland instinctively.

Sakura walked next in line, next to a more sober Tazuna. She didn't have the strongest defenses out of the five shinobi, but she had more medical knowledge than the rest and had a better handle on genjutsu than even their teacher. If the worse case scenario came to pass, she could create enough confusion to get her and their charge far enough away to get back to Konoha relatively unscathed.

Naruto came next. His fast reflexes and brute strength were the reason for his placement. He could help an attack from behind as well as cover the front _and _protect Tazuna with his _Kage Bushin no Jutsu_. (Shadow Clone Technique) The blonde was a bit put out that he couldn't be near his girlfriend, but his priority was towards the mission. Nothing could change that.

_But did those two have to look so friendly with each other?_ Naruto grumbled to himself. He _really_ didn't like feeling jealous and he was sure that Warai loved him, but sometimes, old insecurities came out to bite him in the ass.

Kakashi rounded out their little group as the rear guard. He felt more like a shepherd watching over his flock than the elite jounin he was, but was experienced enough to know that most escort missions amounted to being the same thing.

They passed by a rather large puddle a few moments before and Kakashi knew that it was only a matter of time before the ninja stalking them decided to attack. His thought was followed by the clinking sound of a chain and the sudden presence of two people behind him.

"One down…"

"Kakashi-sensei!"

The yell came from four different mouths as the genin and Tazuna watched as the chain ripped the jounin into pieces before their very eyes. Naruto, being closest to their teacher, froze in place as the men who killed him disappeared. A voice behind him caused the blonde to turn slowly in shock.

"Two down…"

"NARUTO!" Warai screamed and ran to save her boyfriend.

Sasuke reacted quickly and jumped into the air. He pulled out a shuriken and threw it at the razor-sharp chain that linked the two men. He followed through with a kunai to make sure that the metal remained stuck to the tree the first projectile pinned it to. The Uchiha landed on the oversized gauntlets the men wore and he smirked as he kicked them both in the head, snapping the chain from their gauntlets in the process.

The two ninja recovered quickly and separated. One continued toward the blonde boy while the other headed for Tazuna and Sakura. Sasuke noted the new targets and ran to guard the girl and old man.

_Warai can take care of Naruto, _he thought.

* * *

Or maybe not.

Warai stumbled to a stop when Sasuke kicked the two ninja. The movement allowed her to see the symbol on the hitai-ate of the ninja closest to her. Four distinct lines registered in her battle-shocked brain.

_Mist…they're from Kirigakure, _she realized. Seeing the Mist shinobi rekindled old memories for her. The memory of the last time she saw the mark stopped her heart and caused her to gasp for air.

The sight of the symbol caused Warai to freeze as much as Naruto, but for many different reasons. Not only did she feel the same fear her boyfriend felt, she felt an overwhelming hate well up within her as well. Her eyes flashed ice blue as she snapped back to reality.

She didn't care about the ninja headed for Sakura and the old man. She knew that Sasuke and Kakashi—she was certain the bastard jounin was hiding in the trees somewhere—would take care of them.

Her sole attention was on the man attacking Naruto.

Warai felt ice gather at her fingers, creating long claws. She let loose a battle cry and charged the Mist nin. But before she could even scratch the man's arm, he was gone. A groan from the direction of the other three told Warai that the other man was taken care of as well.

"Good job, Sasuke," Kakashi was saying. He held the two enemy ninja in his arms. One was unconscious while the other was very close to that state. "You too, Sakura."

Naruto stared at the group in front of him. He couldn't believe that he froze. It was such a _childish _thing to do. It rankled that even Sakura managed to gain their sensei's praise, while he was left with the others' pity. He felt Sasuke's gaze on him and frowned.

"Are you alright?" the other boy mocked. "Scaredy-cat?"

"Who're you calling a scaredy-cat?" Naruto growled out. He was about to shake his fist at the brunette when Kakashi's voice stopped him.

"Their claws are tipped with poison. I'm sorry I didn't get to you sooner Naruto, but you'd better get the affected blood out of your system before it spreads. By the way, Tazuna-san," the silver-haired jounin added. "We need to talk."

Kakashi quickly tied the two ninja to a tree and stared down at them. "These are chuunin from Kirigakure—Hidden Mist," he announced. "They're known to keep fighting no matter what happens."

"How did you know that we were here?" one of the ninjas breathed through his mask.

"Why, on a bright day like today when there hasn't been any rain for a week, would there be a puddle in the middle of the road?" the man replied. "You need to work on your technique."

"If you knew that they were there, then why did you let the brats fight?" Tazuna asked.

"Because," Kakashi answered. "I wanted to know who their target was. You paid us to protect you from thieves and gangs—not ninja. This is now a B-rank mission, at the very least. We're not prepared for enemy ninja at the chuunin level with just four genin and myself."

"If we're not prepared, then we should go home," Sakura said. "We're close enough and we need to get that poison out of Naruto." Sasuke remained silent, but frowned. Kakashi and Tazuna turned to the boy with looks of worry.

Naruto looked down at the scratches on his hand and began to panic. He vaguely heard Kakashi speak to Sasuke and Sakura about heading back to Konoha, but everything blended into the background. The blonde thought about everyone back home who didn't believe in him as a ninja—and everyone who _did._

"There's no way we're going back home now," he whispered to himself. "If I have to get the poisoned blood out, then I'll get it out!"

Before anyone could make a move, Naruto pulled out a kunai and stabbed himself viciously with it. As the infected blood poured from the wound, he ground out, "I swear by this pain that I will _never _freeze in battle again. I will fight and I will win! I will _never _back down! And I _definitely _won't lose to Sasuke ever again!"

The boy's guts surprised Kakashi. The pain alone would stop another, _saner_, ninja from continuing, but Naruto simply did what needed to be done to keep the mission going. The jounin couldn't fault him for that. He was about to suggest that the boy bandage his wound when Naruto shouted a warning that had Kakashi spinning around.

"Warai, STOP IT!"

Everyone turned in time to watch as Warai sank ice blue claws into the leg of one of the Mist nin. The blonde girl used her other hand to rip the man's mask and goggles off. They all stared in fascination as a set of thin lines that looked like gills was revealed. Warai held her free hand over those gills and cold air began to freeze the skin on the man's neck and face.

"_Kekkei genkai!_" the other Mist nin babbled, panicked. "Demon! Get away from my brother!"

"Shut up," Warai growled. "You're the demon remember? Or was I mistaken? Are you not the Demon Brothers of Kirigakure? Oh, how I longed to meet you once upon a time. My father used to sing me to sleep by retelling the tales of your exploits. My mother told me that if I was patient, then I might even get to marry one of you. Tamaki…I think his name was."

Warai settled her ice blue—almost white—gaze on the Demon Brother she wasn't physically tormenting and grinned. "Are you Tamaki?" she asked. She nodded her head to the frozen features of the other man. "Or is it this one here?"

"Taka," the uninjured Demon Brother whimpered. "You're from the Taka Clan…"

"Well?" Warai demanded. "Which one of you is Tamaki?"

"M-me," the Demon Brother gasped. "I'm Tamaki, not him."

"Liar," Warai snarled. She used her clawed fingers to rip the cloth from the injured man's leg and exposed his thigh to her icy touch.

"_Hyoton: Hofuku Shimoyake no Jutsu." _(Ice Element: Creeping Frostbite Technique)

The others watched in stunned shock as the skin on the man's leg slowly became blue, then purple and black with ice and cold. The man's screams were muted thanks to the cold air she kept over his gills, but the look of pain on his face told them everything. Warai continued the jutsu even after the ice spread past the man's knee and the other Mist nin was hoarse from shouting obscenities and threats.

Kakashi finally snapped out of his trance when he saw the girl create a kunai of ice and hold it to Tamaki's throat.

"_Kanashibari no Jutsu!" _(Body Freezing Technique)

"Sasuke, Sakura," he ordered. "Drag Warai away from him!" The two genin nodded and followed their sensei's orders, careful not to touch the ice on her hands and avoiding looking the girl in the eyes.

The Mist nin was gasping for air and spasming. Kakashi could see that the skin on his thigh was blistered and black. There was no doubt about it—the leg would have to be amputated. He'd never seen that level of cruelty outside of an interrogation room or an outright war—and never from a genin.

To say Kakashi was shocked was an understatement. But he knew that he shouldn't be as surprised as he was. After all, Warai was trained and treated as a Mist nin long before she became a Konoha one. Mist nin were known throughout the five countries for two things: their relentlessness and their ruthlessness.

_I knew that taking Warai with us was a bad idea, _the Copy Ninja thought. He hoped that the man survived Warai's treatment of him. _Don't make me fulfill the Hokage's last order to me, Wa-chan. Don't._

"We need him alive to get information, Warai," Kakashi reprimanded.

"He _is _alive," Warai spat back at the jounin. "But if you have questions, you might want to hurry. His body will go into complete shock soon."

Kakashi felt the jutsu he placed on her dissolve and tensed. But he shouldn't have worried. Warai ignored the others and walked over to tend to Naruto's wound as if nothing was wrong. Sakura stepped out of the other girl's way in fright.

"Warai…" she whispered.

Sasuke picked up the thread when Sakura's voice trailed off, but he finished the sentence in a completely different manner.

"Who the hell _are_ you?"

**

* * *

A/N:**

So…intense, huh? Like my cousin, blacksyryn, battle scenes are not my forte. So bear with me please.

**_Hyoton: Hofuku Shimoyake no Jutsu. _(Ice Element: Creeping Frostbite Technique)—**this jutsu is one I made up for this story. Frostbite's scary…ever seen it? Really, really scary. Google it sometime.


	14. Chapter 14

**Disclaimer: **All standard disclaimers apply.

* * *

**Chapter 14**

"Who the hell _are _you?"

Warai didn't look up from bandaging Naruto's wound. If she did, then she'd have to face the dark blue eyes she knew were staring at her with disappointment.

_At least he's letting me bind his wound, _Warai cried to herself. She couldn't help but let her fingers linger over the task. Once again, she was feeling unreasonably cold while Naruto's body gave off welcoming heat.

This was _not _what she'd hoped would happen on this mission. Both she and Naruto thought that the worst that would happen was that she'd get a bit depressed about returning to her homeland.

Instead, she let her anger get the better of her and probably ended the career of one of Kirigakure's most talented ninjas. Waves of disapproval poured from the boy in front of her and Warai inwardly winced. She'd have to meet her mate's eyes sooner or later. But she could delay that moment by answering the Uchiha's question.

"I am Hyoro Warai," she answered mechanically. Turning her head, she leveled gray eyes onto the two genin to her right. "I am an orphan and a citizen of Konoha. I am a genin of Team 7 under the leadership of Hatake Kakashi."

"You're more than that," Sasuke pressed. "That man said you were from the Taka Clan."

"The man was mistaken." Warai stood up, still avoiding looking directly at Naruto, and brushed her hair back. "The Taka Clan was wiped out a long time ago, along with any other Mist Clan that had a _kekkei genkai._"

"But _you _have one," Sakura said. Her friend's fierceness scared her, but she had a feeling that this was just a passing phase and the joking girl would return to them. At least, she _hoped _the joking girl would return to them.

"Maybe," Warai said. She met the gazes of Sakura and Sasuke. "But I am _not _part of the Taka Clan. That Clan is dead and gone and there's no one left to bring it back—_ever_."

Warai stood facing the other two and didn't see the bandaged hand flying towards her. The slap echoed in the late afternoon air. The blonde brought cooling fingertips to the burn the hit left behind as she slowly turned to stare at her mate in shock. Fiery blue eyes held her now dull gray ones captive.

"Shut…up…" Naruto snarled.

The teens just stared at their youngest teammate. Kakashi gazed indifferently at the scene—he'd sent one of his dogs to the village with a message for ANBU—and waited for the them to deal with the emotional mess Warai's actions caused. Warai's eyes filled with tears as she looked into Naruto's blue gaze.

"Don't act as if they meant nothing to you," the blonde ground out between clenched teeth. "They were your family and they loved and raised you. You have no right to deny them like that. Family is _everything_. I won't let you deny them like that."

"Naruto…" Warai whispered. "I just…the Hokage…"

"The old man wanted you to change your name to keep your enemies from finding you while you were younger," Naruto said. "You're a genin now and right now you're among friends. You're teammates deserve the truth. Because we'll probably come up against more of your _old friends _from Kirigakure, they _need_ to know the truth."

"Before we left Konoha you agreed that they didn't need to know."

"That was before you maimed a man!" Naruto yelled. "Warai, you _maimed _an _unarmed_ man!"

Although he heard the story of Warai's flight from Wave Country, he never really believed the part where she killed two Mist nin as she left her home. Now he wholly believed that the girl in front of him was capable of that act and much more. A part of him died at the realization that _this _was what a ninja was; _this _was what a ninja had to deal with to survive.

The girl flinched at the anger in her mate's voice, but couldn't find it in herself to apologize for her actions. In her mind, all Mist ninja deserved to die. But she couldn't tell Naruto that. The kitsune's heart was too warm and compassionate to handle that particular truth. She knew that, as time passed and they grew as shinobi, Naruto's heart would harden. But that time hadn't come yet and she truly didn't want to be the one to disillusion him.

"Tell them."

Warai couldn't tear her gaze away from the stern face of her love. "But I don't want to…" she said softly. " Don't make me."

Sasuke and Sakura watched the interaction between couple and gaped. For once, Naruto was the serious, dominant one. Warai simply stood submissively and watched her mate with watery eyes.

This was different than the arguments they witnessed at home. This held a weight to it that threatened to shatter the bonds that held the two blondes together. Sakura clasped her hands together and prayed that that weight didn't come crashing down on them.

"The time for secrets is past, Warai," Naruto rasped. "It's stupid to expect us to trust you with this mission now unless you tell them. It's stupid and childish. It's time to stop acting like a child—if you ever _were _one to begin with."

"Naruto," Sakura gasped. She held up a hand, as if that motion would stop the boy's hurtful words from reaching her friend's ears. She was stopped by Sasuke's hand on her shoulder. The Uchiha shook his head at her—he wanted to see what happened next.

"TELL THEM!"

"My name is Warai," the blonde girl repeated. Naruto was about to speak again, but she held up her hand in a pleading gesture. "I was born in Kirigakure and raised by Suki and Kyouya of the Taka Clan. They were my parents and I had an older brother, Genrou."

Everyone remained silent as Warai spoke. When she paused for breath, they remained silent still. She wasn't done yet.

"For the first eight years of my life I was trained as a shinobi for the Hidden Village of the Mist. I was one week away from taking the genin exam when we were betrayed. Other ninja from Mist came to our home and killed everyone," Warai's breath hitched at this and she wrapped her arms around herself. "Even though my family wasn't very high in the Taka Clan hierarchy, even though we no longer lived in Kirigakure, they still came to our home and killed everyone except me."

Normally, this would be the point where she would turn to Naruto for comfort, but at this moment that avenue was closed off to her.

"My mother's last words to me were orders to follow the river to Konohagakure and speak to the Hokage. Before I was free of the orchard we protected, two Mist Hunters caught up to me. I killed them and ran as fast as I could. I was almost there when I met a Konoha ninja with silver-gray hair." Warai looked into Sasuke's eyes and nodded at the look of comprehension in them.

"When we reached Konoha, Iruka-sensei and Kakashi-sensei introduced me to Naruto and Sasuke with a request that I choose one of them to live with. From that day I was no longer Taka Warai, but Hyoro Warai."

"And you hid this from us," Sasuke concluded.

"Because I had to!" Warai cried. She turned to Naruto. "I'm sorry I overreacted. Seeing those chuunin and realizing who they were…anger got the better of me. Naru-kun…"

"Don't talk to me right now," Naruto said. He turned to Kakashi and Tazuna with raised eyebrows. "Are we going to Wave Country or are we returning to Konoha?"

"It depends," Kakashi said. He glanced at the Mist nin and then at Warai. "We can either listen to Tazuna-san's story and _then _decide whether or not to carry on. Or we can head back right now so that I can hand Warai to Morino Ibiki and Mitarashi Anko for her punishment."

"Punishment?" Sakura gasped. The pink-haired kunoichi reacted to the word, rather than the threat behind Kakashi's statement. Naruto's fists clenched when he heard the names of the people who would mete out Warai's sentence.

"Of course," their sensei replied. "Warai attacked an unarmed man. She needs to be chastised for such an act. Even if he attacked us first, the fact is that the man was already subdued and restrained when she injured him. When we get back to Konoha, I'll have no choice but to report this to the Hokage."

Warai met her teacher's eye and straightened her shoulders. "I'll accept whatever punishment the Hokage, Morino-san, and Mitarashi-san decide for me," she said bravely.

"You're quick to assume responsibility for your actions. That alone will give you a few marks in your favor. But you should know something," Kakashi smiled beneath his mask. "The Hokage only allowed you to come on this mission because he had faith in your ability to control yourself. Now that you've proven that you can't, he won't be so ready to trust you again."

"I understand, Kakashi-sensei," Warai murmured, staring at the ground. Frankly, the blonde girl didn't care if the Hokage never let her leave Konoha again. She was more concerned with what Naruto thought of her now that he'd seen her _bad _side.

"Whether Warai will accept punishment or not can wait," Sasuke said impatiently. "We still need to hear what Tazuna-san has to say and decide if we'll continue with the mission."

"Ah, that's right," Kakashi said lazily. The jounin turned his steely gaze at the old man. He continued in a voice that promised retribution if any more lies left Tazuna's lips. "Now why exactly are Mist nin after you?"

* * *

Six people sat in the small boat and remained silent as they slowly crossed the water to the first of the islands that made up the majority of Wave Country. Naruto sat at the bow of the boat, as far away as possible from Warai (who sat near the rudder), and stared off into the distance. The others in their group shifted their eyes from one blonde to the other.

Naruto still hadn't spoken to his girlfriend since the Incident with the Demon Brothers. Although Warai made several attempts to talk to him, he remained silent and blatantly ignored the girl. Sakura couldn't help but notice that Warai's glow was diminished and that she took on a brooding quality that rivaled Sasuke's.

_**Why am I surrounded by strong, but moody ninja?** _Inner Sakura screamed.

Sakura ignored her inner voice and laid her head on her upraised knees. Space on the boat was limited, but still Naruto managed to keep at least half a foot between him and his nearest companion—who happened to be Sakura.

The pink-haired kunoichi was startled by the actions of her comrade. Like Naruto, she knew that ninja had to be cruel at times, but she didn't really _know _how cruel. Sasuke and Kakahsi seemed to take Warai's actions more in stride. They were the only ones to speak to the kunoichi since the Incident. Sakura was too unsure of her friend's mood to even try.

Kakashi accepted it because he had been capable of the same ruthlessness at Warai's age—although they'd been in the middle of a war at the time and ruthlessness was needed if you wanted to survive. He didn't believe too much in revenge anymore, but the jounin knew the pulse of anger that could lead a person to run after it. He spared a glance at Warai and moved his gaze to encompass the Uchiha next to her.

_They both have that need for revenge, _he sighed. _I just hope that nothing sets Sasuke off on this mission._

The last thing the Copy Ninja needed was _two _genius genin hell bent on vengeance.

Sasuke, for his part, found that Warai's newly revealed talent for cruelty was an extremely desirable trait for a kunoichi to have. He much preferred the emotion in the girl's eyes the moment she began her _Hyoton _(Ice Element) jutsu than the blank stare his brother had when he murdered their clan.

Anger, at least, proved that there was a purpose for the cruelty. It was the total absence of emotion that unnerved the Uchiha the most. There was no true motive behind a person's actions when there wasn't a strong emotion to push them.

This new facet to his teammate made her all the more interesting to the raven-haired teen. If she wasn't so attached to the dobe, Sasuke would have considered courting her himself.

_But then again, if Naruto keeps on distancing himself like this, maybe I can convince Warai to be _my_ bride,_ Sasuke thought to himself. He looked over at the dark blonde head near him and smirked. _She's definitely suitable now that I know she's from a noble clan._

The boat cut through the mist quickly and silently. Naruto shivered as the cool air traveled over his features and down the back of his neck. He would've frozen in the vest/jacket he usually wore these days. He was glad that Warai talked him into bringing his new black trench coat with him instead of leaving it behind.

**_FLASHBACK _**

"_It's cold in Wave Country, Naru-kun," Warai smiled, holding up the trench coat that Naruto bought a few days ago. "Colder than you'd expect. You should bring this. It'll protect you from the cold…and other things"_

_The Uzumaki patch he sewed onto the back of the coat drew his attention and he noticed another emblem stitched above it in the darkest blue thread he could imagine._

"_What's this?" he asked. He wanted to ask what 'other things' the coat would protect him from, but decided to talk about the emblem instead. "I didn't do that."_

"_I did," Warai admitted. _

"_Why?" Naruto asked. His girlfriend seemed deep in thought and jerked slightly at the sound of his voice. At her blank look, he repeated his question._

"_It's the Taka Clan symbol," she said. "Even if most of the civilians have forgotten our name, the older Mist nin will remember it. It will keep them from hurting you too badly if we should meet."_

_She ran her fingers over the needlepoint and sighed. The dark blue thread molded together to form the shadow of a falcon with its wings outstretched. The emblem wasn't as large as she would like it to be. The tips of the falcon's wings only spanned the width of the Uzumaki swirl. Normally, the emblem would stretch over the back of the coat so that the wings covered the wearer's shoulders._

_But Warai was in hiding now and couldn't display her Clan symbol so boldly._

"_I thought that they hated and destroyed all of their _kekkei genkai _clans," Naruto said. He was confused. "Why would seeing your emblem keep them from hurting me?"_

"_My father once told me that the sight of our Falcon would scare the other Mist nin in his squad. Even if my clan is supposed to be dead, that fear should have stayed in their hearts."_

_Naruto took the coat from her hands and ran his own hand over the two emblems. A sly smile crossed his face as he spoke to the girl. "Our emblems look good together. I like how yours looks above mine. But it might look better if the Uzumaki was on top of the Taka."_

"_Of course it wouldn't," Warai said, well aware of what he meant, but ignoring the comment. Kakashi was really influencing Naruto in the worst way possible. "It would look stupid."_

_Naruto dropped the coat and took the girl in his arms. He nuzzled her ear and grinned. "I don't think it would look stupid," he whispered._

_Warai grinned back until she felt Naruto's hand on her butt._

"_NARUTO-BAKA!"_

_**END FLASHBACK**_

The blonde felt Warai's gaze on him, but didn't turn around. Naruto kept staring at the never-ending mist in front of their boat. He wasn't talking to Warai because he was still mad at her. He'd gotten over his anger as soon as he thought things over. _Really _thought them over.

He remembered all of the times he'd wanted to hurt one of the villagers for the wrongs done to him. Warai, he knew, felt the same way when she saw those chuunin. It was just the shock of actually _seeing _the Mist nin that made her snap. Naruto knew this, but still didn't break the silence between them.

He didn't know how.

This was the first _real _argument that they've ever had. Now that Naruto built that wall between them, he couldn't find the switch that would demolish that wall and bring his mate back into his arms.

He looked down at his hands and recalled the look on Warai's face when he slapped her. He admitted that it probably wasn't the best way to get her to stop talking, but it was the only one to come to mind at the moment. He just couldn't stand hearing her say those things about her family to the others. Not when she cried in his arms every year on the anniversary of their deaths or when their birthdays came around.

To Naruto—who thought that having a family was one of the best things in the world—acting that way in front of others while mourning silently was extremely wrong and disrespectful.

He didn't know what to do. He wanted to make Warai live up to her name again. But he couldn't do that until they started talking once more. He couldn't believe the irony of it all.

_A girl named Warai who doesn't laugh._

Naruto didn't understand that Warai couldn't laugh without him. Because, for the blonde girl, laughter translated to only one thing:

Uzumaki Naruto.

**

* * *

A/N:**

Okay…that was hard to write. It made me almost regret making them fight, but it must be done!

It's odd though. When I look at the chapter breakdown in my stats area, chapter 13 has like 110 hits while chapter 12 has about 98…

What did you guys do? Skip it? Well anyway, as long as you understand the story, I can't complain.

BTW, **warai** means 'laughter' or 'smile' in Japanese.

Ja ne!


	15. Chapter 15

**Disclaimer: **Do I have to write it again? I don't own Naruto.

* * *

**Chapter 15**

Warai didn't know what to expect.

Maybe she expected people to come out of their homes and demand the Taka blood that ran through her veins. Or maybe she expected someone to recognize her features—recognize her mother's eyes and her father's hair—and smile at her in welcome. But she didn't expect the silence and the poverty that encompassed the small village they were in.

Tazuna-san explained to them everything about the man named Gatou and his iron-fisted treatment of the fishing villages that lay on the coast near the continent. Warai despised the power hungry businessman for what he was doing to her homeland—Wave Country was rich once, before civil wars and Gatou came along.

She didn't have many memories of Wave Country that didn't revolve around the orchard her parents protected, but Warai knew that coastal life back then was better than the way it was now. Gatou had only controlled the seas for the past year. She couldn't begin to imagine what would happen if he continued to 'rule' over the people here.

As the group made their way to Tazuna-san's home—which was on the village outskirts—Warai couldn't help but breathe in the mist heavy atmosphere that was Wave Country.

She didn't expect to miss the smell of mist so much, either.

Naruto was muttering to himself and darting his gaze between the trees on either side of them while sparing a few glares for Sasuke. Warai knew her mate's thoughts even as he formed them himself. She smiled mirthlessly and remained by Kakashi's side. She'd let him act as if he was the genius genin for a while.

Because the truth was, his instincts were sharper than even hers.

_Typical Naruto, _she thought. _Trying to impress everyone now that Sasuke 'has the lead' over him._ The one-sided competition made her shake her head in exasperation. A surreptitious glance at the Uchiha showed that he walked quietly with his hands in his pockets—and his eyes on the surrounding area.

_Maybe it's _not _so one-sided, _Warai amended.

Both Warai and Kakashi turned their gaze to the left a split second before Naruto threw a kunai into the bushes that lay at the side of the road.

"THERE!"

"Naruto-baka!" Sakura yelled, hitting the blonde on the head. "There's nothing there!"

"Ow! But Sakura-chan, there was someone there! I know there was!"

Warai felt a sharp stab of jealousy as the two genin continued to argue. The day before it was her reprimanding Naruto for doing something stupid and unnecessary. Now he refused to even meet her eyes. She shoved the emotion away and focused on the situation at hand.

Kakashi moved away from her and she silently followed him. The girl shivered when Naruto and Sakura came to stand behind them. It was the closest the estranged couple had been since they entered Wave Country. They all watched as their sensei moved the branches to reveal the body of a frightened rabbit.

Naruto yelped and remorsefully hugged the animal to his chest; tearfully apologizing while Sakura continued to scold him. The sight of the rabbit's white pelt caused Warai's eyes to narrow and she automatically spread her chakra out in preparation. Snow rabbits—like the one Naruto held—only had white fur during the winter months.

It was the beginning of August.

"Kakashi-sensei," she whispered. "That rabbit…"

"I know," was the calm answer. "Get ready. I'm counting on you and the others to protect Tazuna. You and Sakura already know the plan. Don't let me down again, Warai."

The girl nodded slightly and wandered to stand next to the bridge builder. She quietly poked Sakura on her hip as she passed and the pink-haired girl frowned in reply. Sakura began molding chakra as the girls flanked Tazuna. They only had a few seconds, but the girls were ready for what was coming. Sakura didn't have time to be nervous about what Warai was capable of. She only hoped that the boys would get their acts together soon.

Warai felt Sakura's chakra build up and hid a smirk. The training sessions they shared were paying off. Only someone familiar with the girl's chakra signature would know what she was doing. The blonde girl vowed not to let anything distract her from her mission this time.

Warai knew the exact moment Kakashi felt the presence of the ninja hiding from them—mostly because she felt him at the same time—and tensed in excitement. She placed her hand on the old man's back and pushed him down at the same time Kakashi ordered everyone to duck.

She had time to look up and see the huge blade of a zanbatou fly over their heads. The sword's flight was halted by the trunk of a large tree and the group stared in wonder as a man suddenly appeared to stand on the hilt of the sword. Naruto glared at the man and made a snap decision. He let out a yell and began to charge the stranger when Kakashi's arm stopped him.

"Protect Tazuna-san," he ordered. "Stay in formation C and don't move. This guy's out of your league."

Naruto frowned, but moved into formation along with the others and ignored the tingle he felt when his arm brushed Warai's. Right now, protecting their employer was above their argument. He noticed that both Sakura and Warai's eyes were closed, as if they were concentrating on something, and that they had yet to get a good look at their enemy. After a moment, both girls' eyes opened, determination shining through.

Warai felt Naruto's presence near her and felt a calm settle over her jangling nerves. When she felt steady enough, she looked up at the Mist nin she knew was standing above them. She gasped in fear as she recognized him. Even though bandages covered the man's face the way Kakashi's mask covered his, Warai remembered her father's description of the ninja in front of her all too well.

She also remembered her father's warning should she ever meet the ninja face to face in battle. One word reverberated through her mind as she stared into the ninja's cold eyes.

"_RUN."_

"One of the Seven Swordsmen of Kirigakure," she whispered reverently. Her voice echoed in the heavy silence around them and the man's eyes widened slightly in surprise. "The exiled ninja, Momochi Zabuza."

"So a lowly genin has heard of me?" he asked. "And all the way in Fire Country, too. I'm flattered. But I'm afraid that I'll have to kill that geezer next to you little girl, if you don't mind."

"We most certainly do mind," Kakashi said. "If you kill him, then we won't get paid. Not to mention that I don't let comrades die on my watch if I can help it."

"Such strong words," Zabuza sneered. "But then again, it's nothing less than I expected from Konoha's Copy Ninja."

"Copy Ninja?" Sasuke whispered in confusion.

"You probably can't tell by looking at his lazy ass," Naruto chuckled. "But Kakashi-sensei's a really great ninja. One of the best in Konoha, actually."

"He's learned over 1000 jutsus," Warai added. "And is in most of the bingo books on the continent. The other countries use those bingo books to keep track of dangerous ninja along with the prices other people are willing to pay for the deaths of those ninja."

"Are they genin or are they your fan club, Hatake?" Zabuza taunted.

"They're my teammates," Kakashi answered. He brought his hand to his hitai-ate and pushed it up, revealing a long scar over his left eye. "And if I'm going to protect them, I can't fight you without using this."

"Again, I'm flattered," Zabuza said. "I've always wanted to see what it was like."

"What is he talking about?" Sakura asked. She felt sweat on the back of her neck from the pressure of holding onto her chakra for so long, but managed to multitask and listen to the conversation flowing around her at the same time.

"Copy Ninja is only _one _of Kakashi-sensei's nicknames," Warai responded. "The other one…"

"…is Sharingan Kakashi," Naruto finished.

Kakashi opened his left eye and stared at Zabuza with mismatched eyes. One was black while the other was demon red with three tiny tomoe surrounding his iris. Sasuke stood in shock. It was the first time in years that he witnessed the power of the Sharingan. He was also confused. The Sharingan only manifested itself in the Uchiha clan and, as far as he knew, Hatake Kakashi was no more related to him than Naruto.

Zabuza chuckled and jumped off of his sword, ripping it from the tree, and landing on the river that ran near the road. He easily stood on top of the water using his chakra and began his attack.

"_Kiri Gakure no Jutsu." _(Hiding Mist Technique)

Instantly, a dense mist rose from the river and enveloped the group. Sasuke and Naruto twitched in response to the killing intent surrounding them. Sakura ignored it and placed her hands in the Master Seal. Warai did the same on Tazuna's other side and together the girls subtly increased the protective barrier Sakura placed around the man.

Warai felt the others' nervousness and knew the reason why. They weren't used to such thick mist. Even Tazuna, who lived in Wave Country for most of his life, felt uneasy with the speed and thickness of the mist surrounding them. But Warai let a smile settle on her lips as her eyes flashed dark blue. She'd lived in the mist with her family for too long. Nothing could hurt her in it.

She let herself relax as she tapped into the _Suiton_ (Water Element) aspect of her bloodline limit. She was more used to using her _Hyoton _(Ice Element) jutsus and so had to put more effort in controlling her _kekkei genkai. _But she wasn't worried.

She was a child of the Taka clan. Her pride in her clan resurfaced and her smile became a grin. She could see through this mist clearer than anyone else—even the man who created it.

Warai was about to use her power to dispel the heavy mist in front of them when Naruto took her hands in his.

"Don't," he whispered. "Let Kakashi-sensei deal with it."

"But I can help," Warai argued. "I can get rid of the mist. He won't have to waste chakra dispelling it." She was confused by Naruto's actions. The first words he gave her in over a day and they were orders to _not _help their sensei?

"Kakashi-sensei can take care of himself. I won't have him finding out who you are," Naruto said. "If that bastard finds out who you are, his target might change. And I don't want that to happen."

"Naru-kun…"

"I'm still kinda mad at you, Wa-chan," he said, squeezing her hand. "And we're gonna talk about it once we're safe. But I don't want to see you die. Not now, not ever."

Naruto felt his mate nod her head and smiled grimly as she squeezed his hand in return. The seriousness of the situation—and the fear he heard in her voice when she said the missing nin's name—forced Naruto to admit that her well being meant more to him than his pride or any argument. Keeping her safe was the most important thing to him.

And if keeping old man Tazuna safe kept his Warai safe, then Naruto was willing to follow orders…even if it meant working as a team with Sasuke-teme.

Kakashi felt Warai's chakra diminish and let his pent up breath loose. He was almost afraid that the girl would do something to reveal her bloodline limit to Zabuza. He couldn't protect her if the jounin decided to seriously go after her _and _Tazuna. She was supposed to have the ability to take care of herself.

The silver-haired jounin closed his eyes and focused his own chakra. Using a technique he learned from Warai herself, he dispelled the mist around them and carefully looked around for his opponent. Behind him, he could feel increasing waves of anxiety and fear. It was a natural reaction to the situation for a genin, but Kakashi was surprised that it came from his most reserved student. He thought that the insecurity would come from Sakura, not Sasuke.

_Crap, _he thought. _The Uchiha better not snap under the pressure._

Finally locating his enemy, Kakashi turned and smiled reassuringly at the panicking teen—even though he couldn't see it through his mask.

"Sasuke," Kakashi called out. "Don't worry. I won't let my comrades die."

Sasuke gaped at his sensei. The trance he was in snapped and he realized that the business end of his kunai was inches from his abdomen. He'd unconsciously brought it there as he soaked up the tense atmosphere around him. The murderous intent coming from the two jounin almost caused him to kill himself. Sasuke shook his head at his own foolishness.

He also noticed that out of the four genin, he was the only one so affected.

Sakura stood still as a statue by Tazuna's side, determination written across her face. Warai was on the man's other side, her face a mirror of the other girl's. Sasuke noticed a faint line of chakra connecting the two girls and surrounding Tazuna. He realized that the kunoichi were protecting the man with a chakra barrier while leaving him and Naruto to protect Tazuna with their fists and kunai.

Sasuke turned to the fourth genin in their team and almost nodded his head in approval.

Naruto held his kunai in a defensive stance, staring only at the space in front of him. The blonde ignored everything as a sort of tunnel vision blocked off all feeling and only left his instincts to control his body. He blocked out the killing intent and even Zabuza's voice as it echoed through the clearing. He knew listening to the man would bring nothing but doubt and fear into his mind.

He knew that the jounin was going to attack—and he was going to attack soon.

"This is the end."

The statement registered in Naruto's brain a second before the exiled Mist nin appeared in the space between him, Sasuke, and Tazuna. He pivoted and raised his kunai before Kakashi's lunge pushed them away from the killer. He fell to one side as Sasuke fell to the other. The girls managed to keep to their feet and kept the chakra barrier around Tazuna intact.

"Looks like you're wrong," Kakashi whispered. His kunai sunk into the other ninja and he felt liquid fall onto his gloved hands.

_Too much, _Kakashi realized suddenly. _And too cold!_

The thought came to his mind an instant before Zabuza appeared behind him and cut through the Copy Ninja with his zanbatou. His teammates' eyes widened in shock as they witnessed their sensei get cut in half for the second time in as many days. Warai's eyes narrowed as she focused her still blue gaze on his figure and sighed in relief.

More water rained onto the ground as the _Mizu Bushin _(Water Clone) that was Kakashi dispersed. Zabuza raised nonexistent eyebrows has he felt the steel of a kunai against his throat. He turned his head to meet mismatched eyes and grinned.

"Don't move," Kakashi growled. "Now _this _is the end."

"Is it?" Zabuza asked calmly. "So you copied my _Mizu Bushin no Jutsu_. While my attention was on your attempt to reassure that brat of yours, you switched and hid yourself. But let me tell you something…"

Kakashi blinked as the Zabuza in front of him burst into water and he felt a presence behind him.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto yelled. "Behind you!"

"I won't be that easy to defeat," the real Zabuza whispered. He swung his sword, intent on slicing the silver-haired jounin in half—for real this time.

Kakashi dropped to his knees in time to avoid his death, although a few strands of silver floated down to rest on his sleeve in the process. He turned around as he heard the slam of the giant blade into the ground and braced himself. Zabuza changed his grip on his now trapped weapon and used the hilt of the sword to balance himself.

Using the sword as a base, Zabuza sent a kick into Kakashi's abdomen. The force caused the Copy Ninja to fly several feet before landing in the river. The Mist nin went to follow him, but stopped at the sight of several tacks on the ground in front of him. He sneered at the pitiful attempt and back flipped over the obstacle.

Kakashi surfaced from the river only to feel the water's unusually heavy weight settle on his shoulders. He realized too late his mistake when Zabuza appeared behind him and formed a series of seals.

"You fell for it," he murmured. "Now you won't escape. _Suiro no Jutsu!" _(Water Prison Technique)

Immediately, a sphere of water enveloped Kakashi and trapped him inside. Zabuza stood with one hand in the sphere and focused his energy. A water clone appeared before the genin and Tazuna.

"You're too troublesome when you move around," Zabuza said calmly. "This way, my water clone can kill those brats you call ninja and the old man and you can watch them all die."

"Run!" Kakashi ordered. "He can't move as long as I'm in here and he can't send the water clone after you if you run fast enough! Take Tazuna and run!"

He placed his palms on the wall of the water prison only to get a slight chakra burn from it. He considered stabbing Zabuza's hand—which was in the prison with him—but decided that he couldn't do that while the water clone was so close to his team. He could only watch as mist began to cover the air between them once more.

"He's disappearing again!" Naruto cried. He half turned to the girls still protecting Tazuna. "Whatever happens, do not leave Tazuna-san's side. Understand that, Sakura-chan, Wa-chan? _Whatever _happens Wa-chan, don't you use _that—"_

The boy's sentence was interrupted by the emergence of Zabuza's clone from the dense mist. His fist smashed against the blonde's face hard enough to knock the hitai-ate from his head. Naruto rolled back several meters and the clone laughed as he stomped his foot on the Konoha leaf symbol.

"What are you doing?" Kakashi yelled from his prison. "I told you to run!"

"Even if we did," Sasuke murmured loud enough for the girls to hear him. "Zabuza would only come after us later. We're dead without you, Kakashi-sensei. The option to run was taken from us the moment you got captured."

The Uchiha palmed several shuriken in his hands and met the gaze of the clone before him. "This is the only thing we can do now!"

Sasuke charged the man, throwing the shuriken as he ran. He knew a direct attack was suicide. Instead, he used the other ninja's attention to the throwing stars as a distraction and jumped into the air. He pulled out another kunai and aimed for Zabuza's shoulder.

"This is it!" he yelled.

The clone simply laughed again and caught the boy midair by the throat. "Pitiful," he sneered before he threw the teen to the ground at his teammates' feet.

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura yelled. She felt the barrier around Tazuna weaken and refocused her energy. All of Sasuke's efforts would go to waste if the bridge builder was killed. The rosette-haired kunoichi vowed that that wouldn't happen if she could help it.

_I'm not useless, _she thought. _Not anymore._

**_Hell yeah! _**Inner Sakura screamed, pumping her fist in the air.

"You idiots!" Kakashi seethed. "RUN!"

Naruto moved to stand up and felt a sharp pain in his left hand. He looked down at the bandage and remembered his vow.

"_I swear by this pain that I will _never_ freeze in battle again. I will fight and I will win! I will _never_ back down! And I _definitely_ won't lose to Sasuke ever again!"_

Blue eyes hardened with determination as he looked at the hitai-ate beneath the clone's sandaled foot. He remembered Iruka's face when he gave him the forehead protector and Warai's proud smile when she placed the metal band on the black cloth they used instead of the blue the others had. He remembered his dream to become Hokage.

Everything would mean nothing if he backed down now.

The boy growled low in his throat as he moved into a crouching position. He ignored Kakashi's yell and charged the clone himself.

"Naru-kun!" Warai shouted.

Unlike Sakura, the chakra barrier didn't waver as her attention turned towards her boyfriend. She knew what he was up to and cursed Naruto's overblown honor code and foolish sentimentality. Even if it was one of the things she loved most about him, Warai knew that one day his reckless behavior would seriously hurt him.

Naruto cried out in pain as the Mist nin's fist once again connected with his face. He raised himself to his feet and stared at the ground. He shrugged his shoulders to adjust the backpack resting on them and flashed a fox grin at Zabuza.

"You might want to record this for your bingo book, ya eyebrow-less freak," he said. "But I'm the one who will become Hokage of Konohagakure! I'm Uzumaki Naruto and prepare for an ass kicking, bastard!"

Zabuza watched in amusement as the short blonde retied his hitai-ate over his forehead. The blonde then turned his body to his teammates, addressing them, but keeping the water clone in his sights.

_Not as stupid as he looks then, _Zabuza mused.

"Sasuke-teme," Naruto called out. "Listen to me, I've got a plan."

"So you finally want to work together?" Sasuke asked. He was impressed by Naruto's guts, but refused to let it show.

"Yeah, so keep your head together and don't freak out like you did before."

"I did _not _freak out."

"You _so _freaked."

"I did—"

"Ya freaked out Sasuke," Warai said, interrupting the immature fight. She turned to face her boyfriend. "What about us?"

"Stay back and protect Tazuna-san," Naruto said. He and Sasuke faced Zabuza and his clone and both genin wore confident smirks on their faces.

"Leave this to the men," Sasuke added. Naruto wanted to slap his hand over his face at the Uchiha's careless comment but spoke quickly to stop Warai's imminent explosion.

"I know he's an arrogant, sexist pig, Wa-chan," he said, not facing his fuming girlfriend. "But you've got your thing to do, so trust us to do ours. And remember what I told you about _that._"

"Naruto…"

"Don't use it," Naruto's voice became chilled and hard as he used the same tone he did when he slapped the girl the day before. Warai knew better than to argue at that point. The blonde boy nodded, accepting his mate's silence as the positive answer he needed. He glared again at Zabuza and his doppelganger. Naruto reached up to adjust his hitai-ate and felt Sasuke tense behind him.

"Well then," he said loudly. "Let's get wild!"

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A/N:**

I think I'll end things here for now. Almost 4,000 words…I'm shocked at myself.

I really suck at fight scenes, I'm sorry for that. Please forgive me!

Anyway, the next chapter should be up soon. (I love summer!)

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**This space intentionally left blank.**


	16. Chapter 16

**Disclaimer: **All standard disclaimers apply.

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Chapter 16**

Warai watched as Sasuke and Naruto faced off against one of Kirigakure's Seven Swordsmen. Although they were actually facing his water clone, the girl knew that the doppelganger was as dangerous as the original—if not more so. After all, if the improbable happened and the genin landed a critical hit, the real Zabuza could always make more clones.

She had faith in her boyfriend. He was strong and quick. But he was also kind-hearted and inexperienced. Warai didn't know if he had it in him to go after their opponent with the intent to kill. If he tried and somehow held back, then he would be killed. The girl only hoped that her mate knew himself well enough to know that truth and find some other way to defeat Zabuza.

The Zabuza clone in front of them laughed mirthlessly at the boys' show of determination. He held his hands in front of him and looked down.

"So you think that you're real ninja, eh?" he asked contemptuously. "You're just brats playing ninja games. You don't knowwhat a real ninja is. By the time I was your age, my hands were _soaked _with blood. Can you say the same?"

Sasuke and Naruto remained silent. This was only their second experience in battle. Sakura continued to hold her jutsu, although her attention was split between giving sufficient chakra to the protection barrier and listening to the conversation. But all three genin turned to look at their fourth teammate out of the corner of their eyes. Warai twisted her lips into a facsimile of a smile and growled at the Mist nin.

"And if I _can_ say the same?" she called over the space separating them. "If I've already spilled blood onto my hands does that make me a _real _ninja? Or does only taking two lives not count, _Demon_ Zabuza?"

"Again I'm flattered that you know so much about me, little girl," Zabuza said. "So you know what I am and my history, eh?"

"What are you guys talking about?" Sakura asked. She felt ridiculous always asking questions like that, but she felt even more awkward letting the conversation flow around her when she didn't understand the content.

"A long time ago, the Hidden Village of Mist was called…" Kakashi began.

"The Hidden Village of the _Bloody_ Mist," Warai finished. "It was a violent and unforgiving place. The shinobi raised there were put through hell to even make it through the Academy. Kirigakure is harsher than Konoha in more than its climate. Then there's the issue of the final genin test."

"So you not only know about me, but about Kirigakure," Zabuza murmured. "You know about the final test."

"What test?" Naruto asked. "What's this final test you're talking about?"

Zabuza lowered his gaze and grinned. Warai's smile disappeared and her still blue eyes narrowed. They both spoke the answer at the same time. In the expectant silence the words echoed louder than an explosion.

"Students killing other students."

Naruto, Sakura, and Tazuna's reactions were all of shock and horror. Sasuke clenched his fists even harder while Kakashi dropped his head forward. It wasn't easy to accept the fact that one of his students was raised in a culture like Kirigakure's. Although the Mist Village had changed—a bit—and Kakashi and the other Guardians used the past four years to adjust her thinking, Warai was still capable of the ruthless and cruel behavior that marked all Mist nin.

The incident with the Demon Brothers only proved it.

"Imagine," Warai whispered. "Going to school with the same people for years. Eating lunch together, sharing your hopes and dreams and loves. Talking about the future together. Which teams you'll be on? Which sensei will we get? Which classmate will my parents choose for me to marry?"

"Making plans and meeting your rivals. Finding that one person whom you can compete with and fight against as you climb the ranks of Mist nin together," Zabuza continued.

"Can you even think about it, really _think _about it? Naruto? Sasuke? Sakura-chan?" Warai asked. "Doing all of that…we _have _done all of that, haven't we? Back at home, in Iruka-sensei's classroom; we did all of those things. Then you find out that you have to fight your comrades in order to move on. It's heartbreaking...One on one battles with no idea who your opponent might be. You have to fight your _friends_ until one of you is dead."

Everyone was silent as the girl paused in her monologue. Naruto noticed that as she spoke, her eyes became a deeper blue than they already were. He only hoped that Zabuza thought it was because of her emotions and not a sign of her bloodline limit. He also hoped that he didn't slip up and call Warai by her full name instead of Wa-chan. The name was rare enough; he didn't need the jounin to even _suspect _at the girl's true identity.

The man was a Swordsman of the Mist. He was part of the group that led an uprising against Kirigakure and tried to exterminate all of the clans with a _kekkei genkai_ in their village. If he found out that they had a survivor of that massacre in their midst, Zabuza might decide to finish the job and kill Warai.

Naruto would have to be dead and halfway to the afterlife before he let that happen.

Warai looked off in the distance as she remembered the earnest look on her father's face when she told him her decision to take the genin test in Kirigakure. Her mother supported her while her father objected. In this instance, her father forgot that the Taka Clan was a matriarchy. She also remembered her own response.

_**FLASHBACK **_

"_I'm different, Daddy," Warai reassured her worried father. "I haven't gone to school with those children. I don't know them and they don't know me. It'll make killing one of them easier."_

"_Killing for no reason is _never _easy, Warai," Taka Kyouya told his daughter. "If you want to become a ninja so badly, we'll send you somewhere—_anywhere—_else. Just not Hidden Mist."_

"_I _want _this Daddy," Warai said, looking up into his dark eyes. "I want to be a Mist nin like you and Momma."_

"_You don't want to become a businessman like your brother?" Kyouya asked futilely. He knew his daughter when she'd made up her mind. Nothing could change it._

"_Business is boring. Being a Mist nin will be so much better!"_

_**END FLASHBACK**_

God, was she ever a naïve eight-year-old. She'd learned from her teachers in Konoha. Killing for no reason is _never_ easy—not if a person was sane, anyway. Warai sighed before she repeated the words her father used to try to get her to change her mind about becoming a Mist nin.

"The test is to prove your devotion to Mist. To test your will to continue even if your opponent is your own brother. _That's _why Mist ninja are so relentless. After killing your friend, what else is left to shock you? What is left to stop you? Nothing."

"But ten years ago Mist had to undergo a reformation," Kakashi added, an almost desperate edge to his voice. The others were scared enough of Warai as it was. He didn't need her homeland's reputation to add to that fear. "Because an incident occurred the year before, they stopped giving that test."

"That's where you're wrong, Kakashi-sensei. That story's only what the Mizukage told everyone so that normal people wouldn't stop hiring uh—Mist nin," Warai cut herself off. She kept the wince from appearing on her face. She had all of Zabuza's attention now. She almost said, "stop hiring _us_" but caught herself in time. It had been years since she considered herself a citizen of Kirigakure. Why was she starting _now_?

"Your knowledge continues to surprise me, girl," Zabuza complemented. "The story that Kirigakure underwent a reformation _was _a front. Crime bosses and the like couldn't care less, but they weren't our only clients. And for some reason, the mass public frowns on tests of that nature. But we _didn't_ stop the tests. We just changed the candidate restrictions."

"Anyone can take the test now," Warai explained to the stunned group. "Even if you've never been to the Academy a day in your life or never held a kunai in your hands, you can apply and take the test if you have the confidence to try. The Mizukage wasn't going to let a thing like candidacy restrictions or sociopathic tendencies stop him from finding more ninjas of Momochi Zabuza's talent."

"You understand everything so well, little girl. Your name was Wa-chan, wasn't it?" Zabuza questioned. Really, the brat's insight into the inner workings of Mist was frighteningly accurate. An outsider could never know all of these details—Kirigakure's own security network made sure of that. "Well, Wa-_chan_, have you ever been to Kirigakure before?"

"Not that I can remember," Warai answered truthfully. Her parents were ordered to protect the daimyou's orchard on the continent just two years after she was born. Any memory she had of Kirigakure was more likely an imagination brought on by her parents' conversations of the hidden village.

"This incident," Naruto shouted. He had to take Zabuza's mind off of Warai, now! The man was getting to interested in the girl. "What was the incident that started the 'reformation'?"

"It was the year before the reformations took place," Kakashi answered. He too wanted the jounin's attention to leave the blonde girl. "A boy who didn't even qualify to become a ninja managed to kill over 100 of the candidates before the instructors could stop him."

"That boy automatically became a ninja. In fact, he skipped over being a genin completely and they made him a chuunin," Warai said. "And they gave him a nickname…"

"The Demon of the Mist," Kakashi said, glaring at Zabuza from behind his water prison.

"Ah," Zabuza said looking up with something close to joy shining in his eyes. He was successfully distracted from his questioning of Warai. "Those were fun times."

"And fun times are here again," the Zabuza clone grinned.

Sasuke didn't have time to blink before the clone rushed him. He managed to block himself at the last moment so that the man's shoulder only hit his arm and not his chest. But the force of the hit forced the Uchiha to his back. The clone took the advantage and rammed his elbow into the boy's unprotected diaphragm. Sasuke gasped in pain and coughed up blood.

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura yelled. She was close enough. If she just diverted her chakra from the barrier, then she could hit the clone with a genjutsu. The pink-haired girl prepared to do just that, when a voice stopped her.

"Don't," Warai whispered next to her. Sakura paused her hand seals.

"Why not?" she asked. "Sasuke needs help."

"Genjutsu won't work on water clones," the other girl rasped. Her gaze never left the form of the real Zabuza standing on the river's surface. "We need to protect Tazuna-san."

"Don't mind me," the bridge builder said, speaking for the first time to the girls guarding him. "Fight and save your comrades."

"Sasuke and Naruto can handle it," Warai assured. "Our mission is to protect you, Tazuna-san."

"But they're just genin!" the old man said. "Even working together, they can't beat him. But if the four of you fight…"

"Tazuna-san's right," Sakura agreed.

"Sakura, do you love Sasuke or not?"

"Of course I love him!"

"Then trust him," Warai replied. "Trust him to do his job."

"Do you trust Naruto?"

"Absolutely."

Warai looked over at her boyfriend. While the trio was talking, he'd created at least twenty _Kage Bushin _(Shadow Clones) and was currently trying to overwhelm the water clone by dog piling the clones on him. She sighed as the clones were thrown off with ease and then slowly began to disappear in puffs of smoke. Her sigh became a smile as her sharp eyes witnessed what Naruto's plan was.

The blonde took his backpack from his shoulders and rummaged through it as he continued sliding along the ground. He found what he was looking for and called out to his teammate. When the brunette's attention moved to him, Naruto threw the fuuma shuriken at him and hoped Sasuke knew what to do.

Naruto's prayers were answered when Sasuke caught the shuriken and immediately understood.

"So that's your plan, eh, dobe?" Sasuke whispered. He grinned and opened the fuuma shuriken. He held the weapon by the center circle and glared at their opponent from behind the North blade. The four-armed shuriken was razor sharp and each 18-inch arm pointed towards the four cardinal points of a compass.

"_Fuuma Shuriken, Kage Fuusha!" _(Wind Demon Shuriken, Shadow Windmill)

The figure of the Uchiha disappeared for a moment before his battle cry alerted the others to his presence above them. Sasuke grunted with the effort it took to throw the weapon and landed lightly on his feet once the object left his hand. He watched in pleasure as the shuriken bypassed the water clone and headed for the Zabuza who had one hand in the water prison that held Kakashi.

"It's going for the real one!" Tazuna gasped.

"Good thinking," Zabuza said. His arm came out and caught the shuriken with his free hand. "But not good enough, I'm afraid."

Sasuke and Warai heard the comment and smirked in reaction. The Mist nin's eyes widened at this and he noticed the shape of another shuriken headed for him.

_There was another fuuma shuriken in the shadow of the first! _He realized.

"That's the _Kage Fuusha,_" Kakashi told him contemptuously from his prison.

The Mist nin smiled behind his bandages and replied, "Still not good enough." The tall man simply jumped over the shuriken when it came close enough and shook his head at the pathetic attempt.

"He dodged it!" Sakura cried.

_**And they were doing such a good job at working as a team, too!** _Inner Sakura screamed.

The sound of a _henge_ being dropped echoed in the air and Sakura's attention moved to the area behind Zabuza. Her green eyes widened as the cloud cleared to reveal Naruto. The blonde boy growled as he took aim and threw his kunai at Zabuza's shoulder.

"_Kokko da!"_ he yelled.

Zabuza reacted without thinking and brought his shoulder back to avoid getting hit. The movement caused him to remove his hand from the hydro-prison, but didn't protect him totally from the kunai. A line of red appeared on his cheekbone as the sharp knife passed over his skin. He felt the blood soak into his bandages and scowled.

"You fuckin' brat!" he yelled. The jounin began spinning the fuuma shuriken he held and took two steps to get rid of the genin that outsmarted him. He reared his arm back to throw the weapon, but was stopped by the fist of one _very_ angry Copy Ninja.

"Don't forget about me, now," Kakashi said, staring at Zabuza from underneath his wet bangs. Blood poured from his hand, despite the protection the metal on the back of his glove gave. Zabuza let go of the shuriken and jumped back. He glowered at the silver-haired ninja as he spoke to his team.

"Good teamwork guys!" Kakashi called out.

"Kakashi-sensei always says to look underneath the underneath and to use our special talents in a fight!" Naruto said, bobbing gently in the river.

"How did they do that?" Tazuna asked. "How did shortie come up with that brilliant plan?"

"It was just luck," Sasuke replied.

"Just luck!" Tazuna repeated. "You've got to be kidding me!"

"It's not that surprising when you think about it," Sakura smiled. "Naruto's a born prankster anyway."

"What's that got to do with it?" the old man wondered.

"Naruto always had to play pranks during school," Warai explained, still standing by Tazuna's side. Although Kakashi was now free, the girls didn't slack off in the protection of their charge. "The teachers were always after him for something or other. Of course, he had to come up with crafty ways to avoid them. So he perfected his _Henge _(Transformation) techniques."

"Not many people can transform into inanimate objects," Sakura added. "Usually, _henge _is used to copy another person's features. In fact, this is the first time I've seen it happen."

"The _kage bushin _attack was just a diversion to hide the fact that I transformed into a shuriken!" Naruto grinned. "Sasuke-teme noticed it was me right away of course and he attacked!"

"But you didn't get him," Tazuna said. "He dodged every attack."

"Injuring Zabuza was never their objective, Tazuna-san," Kakashi said. His attention was still on Zabuza, but he had to applaud his student's ingenuity. "They just wanted to free me from my prison."

"I didn't cancel the technique," Zabuza informed.

"No, you were _forced _to cancel the technique," Kakashi corrected. "And now that I'm out, let's conclude this fight of ours."

The two jounin faced off against each other and prepared themselves. Their fight would end soon, that much was sure.

Warai watched with blue eyes. She couldn't use her powers outright. If she tried to use her bloodline limit to inhibit Zabuza's attacks, then the jounin might notice the chakra imbalance. But if Kakashi used a water jutsu, she could subtly reinforce his attacks with her own. A small shiver went through her and she turned her body slightly to sneak a glance behind her.

The presence she felt backed off, but didn't disappear. She stiffened with the realization that someone was watching their battle. She didn't know how long the person was there and she didn't know what side he was on.

The only thing she did know was that the person's chakra was strangely familiar.

**

* * *

A/N:**

Uh-oh…familiar chakra? Who could it be?

(Shut up! Those who've seen the anime or read the manga…hell those who've _read _other Naruto Alternate Reality fanfics know who the presence is. Let me have my illusion of mystery, dammit!)

**Kokko da: **meaning "This is the spot" or "Right here." Naruto says this in the Japanese version of the anime and it always sounds better to me than the English translation.

One reviewer said that they thought Naruto was a bit harsh to Warai the last chapter. He wasn't harsh with her because he was angry at her or that he was ashamed of her bloodline limit. Rather, he was harsh because he knew that she would use it to help him if he got into trouble.

He didn't want her to use her powers because Zabuza is one of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist. Remember that it was several of the Swordsmen who tried to overthrow Kirigakure and began the slaughter of the _kekkei genkai _clans. Naruto and Warai (basically everyone outside of Kirigakure) don't know **which** Swordsmen were involved.

Sorry if there was any confusion in Naruto's actions or attitude to Warai. He just knows her well enough that she'll ignore his "advice" if he was in trouble unless he actually _orders _her not to help him.


	17. Chapter 17

**Disclaimer: **Standard disclaimers apply.

**Chapter 17**

The two jounin stood facing each other while they stood on the surface of the river. Each kept their gaze on the other's eyes—which might have been a mistake on Zabuza's part, but he held the stare nonetheless. Suddenly, the Mist nin burst into a flurry of hand seals. Kakashi felt chakra flood into his left eye and felt the familiar burning sensation as the three tomoe took in every movement the other man made. The silver-haired man's hands flew to keep up with Zabuza.

Kakashi's Sharingan noticed a particular pattern of five seals and immediately knew that the jutsu Zabuza was using would involve the materialization of a dragon form. Since the exiled nin was from Kirigakure, it was only logical that the jutsu would use the water that was readily available.

He continued to mimic the other man's seals, but by the time Zabuza repeated the pattern of seals for a dragon formation for the fifth time, Kakashi was positive as to the other's move.

One right after the other, each man formed sixty-six seals perfectly and in rapid succession. Their fingers ended in the bird seal and two voices shouted in unison.

"_Suiton: Suiryuudan no Jutsu!" _(Water Element: Water Dragon Blast Technique)

Naruto braced himself as the water he was bobbing in became turbulent. The others watching from the relative safety of the shore gaped as two columns of water burst from the river and shifted to form the heads of two dragons. Warai focused and carefully mixed her chakra in with Kakashi's to strengthen the jutsu.

Normally, the introduction of one person's chakra into another's jutsu would result in the technique failing from the imbalance. But Kakashi, Warai, and Naruto knew each other for years before they were put on the same team. That level of familiarity had its own rewards. They were as comfortable with each other's chakra as they were with their own.

Furthermore, they each had elements that they excelled in and had—unknown to the other two members of their team—trained with each other in using their elemental affinities to _reinforce _each other's jutsus.

_Doton _(Earth Element) and _Mokuton _(Wood Element) jutsus were Naruto's territory. _Katon _(Fire Element), _Futon _(Wind Element), and—to an extent—any jutsu involving Lightning was the domain of Kakashi. Predictably, the _Hyoton _(Ice Element) and _Suiton_ (Water Element) techniques belonged to Warai.

It was an unspoken agreement between the three shinobi. If one of them were forced to use any of the others' Elements, then the "owner" of the element would reinforce the jutsu—providing that the other ninja wasn't occupied at the moment.

Warai certainly wasn't occupied enough that she couldn't give her sensei a bit of "help."

Kakashi smirked as he felt Warai's chakra embed itself into his jutsu. Zabuza was too focused on his own jutsu to notice the added chakra. If the Mist nin thought that Kakashi's jutsu was a bit too strong for his "first time" performing it, he probably chalked it up to the fact that his opponent was _Sharingan Kakashi._

Water rained down over the river in a torrent as the two water dragons collided with each other. They intertwined from that first meeting only to reform and attack each other a second time. The spray from the attacks settled over the group on the shore and Naruto had to work hard not to be sucked up into the columns of water.

_Maybe I should get out of the river, _he thought.

"What's going on?" Sakura wondered.

"I don't know," Sasuke answered. "I can't see through the water."

Sasuke couldn't, but Warai could vaguely see the outlines of the two jounin.

Her eyes widened when she saw Zabuza draw his zanbatou and charge Kakashi. The Mist nin's jutsu hadn't dissipated and if Kakashi's attention lessened, then his own dragon would disappear and he would get lost in the torrent. But if he didn't counter Zabuza's charge he would be cut in half.

She felt the Copy Nin's chakra slowly leave the jutsu they shared and immediately put more of her chakra into it to make up for the loss. Relief surged through her when Kakashi met Zabuza's blade with his own kunai. The dragons still fought above them, but she could tell that the physical effort Zabuza was exerting was causing his jutsu's power to lessen. Warai slowly let her chakra retreat until both dragons were completely gone.

After all, this wasn't her fight. It was Kakashi's. She just gave him a little help.

"You're very good with water jutsu," Zabuza whispered.

"You're very skilled with a blade," Kakashi replied.

The Mist nin's eyes widened for a second before both men retreated from the standstill to stand twenty feet apart from each other. Zabuza ran over the water, looking for an opening, and Kakashi followed his every move. He stood with one hand in front of him and raised his other arm in the air. Kakashi mirrored him.

"You're doing nothing…" he started, lowering his raised arm until it was at an angle to his body.

"But copying my movements," Kakashi finished, lowering his arm as well, but a split second behind Zabuza.

_This man has the most…_Zabuza's thought trailed off as his opponent spoke.

"Freaky looking eyes and gaze, huh?" Kakashi said.

Zabuza stiffened. He placed his hands into the bird seal and watched as the Copy Nin did the same. A dark shadow appeared behind the silver-haired man and Zabuza's eye twitched as the shadow became his own form.

_What is this? Genjutsu? _He wondered. _No matter, you won't beat me by copying me—_

"_You worthless monkey!" _

Zabuza's startled eyes collided with a mismatched pair as his thought was voiced by the deep, lazy voice of the Copy Nin. While the Mist nin was still stunned, Kakashi began a series of seals.

Warai's blue eyes deepened as recognized the seals and she braced herself for the impact of the jutsu. This was the only one Kakashi didn't need her help with at all. It was a finishing move and there was no way for Zabuza to counter it now that Kakashi used it. Instead, she focused her chakra to expand the protection barrier to cover not only Tazuna, but also Sasuke, Sakura, and herself.

"What are you doing?" Sakura asked, sweating with the effort to keep up with her teammate's change in their jutsu.

"Trust me. We're going to need the protection," Warai answered. "Sasuke-teme! Get closer to us. The barrier will work better if it's not stretched so far."

Sasuke heard the urgency in her voice and automatically walked to stand next to Sakura before he could stop himself.

"What are you talking about?" he asked.

"You'll see."

Naruto also recognized the seals and relaxed his body. It would be useless and draining if he swam against what Kakashi's jutsu would do. Instead, he began to breathe deeply and rapidly to swamp his body with extra oxygen. The blonde took in a last, deep breath when Kakashi's voice rang out over the river.

"_Suiton: Daibakufu no Jutsu!" _(Water Release: Great Waterfall Technique)

Instantly, a huge waterfall of water surrounded the Copy Nin. The water grew and swelled for a moment before it was unleashed and the flood headed straight for Zabuza. The impact of the water stung the exposed parts of his body and as the current swept him away he could only marvel at the Sharingan's powers.

_How? _He wondered as his body automatically stopped breathing. _How did he use the jutsu _I _was going to use?_

Sasuke's eyes widened as a wall of water overcame Zabuza and headed right for them. He braced his body, but he shouldn't have bothered. The barrier the girls made kept the water from hitting them as hard as it did their enemy. Some water did manage to sweep past their ankles, but for the most part, they were relatively dry. The group turned when they heard a body slam against one of the trees and saw Zabuza gasping for breath as the deluge pinned him to the trunk. Kakashi appeared on one of the tree limbs above the man and held a kunai in his hand.

"What are you?" Zabuza asked. "Can you read the future?"

"Yes," Kakashi answered, raising his kunai. "You're going to die."

Warai felt the chakra of their hidden voyeur spike for a moment and barely noticed the flight of two senbon needles coming through the air to pierce the neck of Kakashi's prey. Her eyes widened as Zabuza slumped to the ground. She and Sakura released the barrier and they all ran to the body of the man who tried to kill them. Naruto got there first and he watched as Kakashi moved the still man onto his back.

Warai felt the chakra once more and turned her head to the branch Kakashi just vacated. A boy stood there, wearing a Hunter mask from Kirigakure.

"Thank you for distracting him," a soft, but strong, voice called out. "I was looking for an opportunity to kill Zabuza."

Naruto waited until Kakashi nodded his head in confirmation and lazily slid his hitai-ate back over his Sharingan before turning to the Hunter.

"Who the hell are you?" he shouted. The blonde boy pointed an accusing finger at the masked figure. "You're not any older than me and you _killed _Zabuza! What the hell!"

"It's their job, Naruto," Sakura said, once again playing the part of walking library for the blonde. "Hunters go after guys like Zabuza."

"That's right," the Hunter boy said. He disappeared for a moment and reappeared next to the fallen man. Warai's eyes narrowed as she looked at the mask the boy wore. It was smooth and white—as most Mist masks were—with several swirls of red on the lower left quadrant. The Mist symbol was carved onto the forehead.

Something about it was familiar.

That something finally clicked in Warai's brain and her eyes flashed ice blue. The mist that disappeared with Zabuza's death returned full force and with a chilling bite to it that the Mist nin definitely lacked. Sakura and the others could see their breaths cloud before their eyes as Warai continued to stare at the Hunter.

"YOU!" she shouted. "HOW DARE YOU SHOW THAT MASK TO ME? DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU'VE _DONE_? WAIT A MINUTE, YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE **DEAD!**"

Kakashi, who had been half-expecting a reaction like this, nodded to Sakura. The pink-haired girl gulped and did as she was told. Sakura grabbed hold of Warai's waist with one arm. When the blonde began to object to the hold, she pressed the pad of her thumb to a pressure point just under her last cervical vertebrae. Both girls fell to the floor when Warai's legs refused to hold her up. The cold mist immediately dissipated, leaving nothing but the cool atmosphere that was the norm for this country.

"Wa-chan!" Naruto yelled. He ran to his girlfriend and held her in his arms. He was relieved to note that she was only unconscious and sighed. The Hunter simply watched the proceedings in intrigued silence. He knelt and placed Zabuza's arm heavily onto his shoulders.

"I have no interest in learning what that was about," he said, gesturing to the sleeping girl. "But I must dispose of this body. It holds many secrets." Kakashi lowered his head a bit in acknowledgement and the others watched as the boy disappeared again, taking Zabuza's body with him.

"What was that all about, Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked. He kept his voice down for Warai's sake, but only barely. "How could he defeat Zabuza so easily?"

Kakashi turned away from his genin. "There are some things you must all learn in this life," he said. "One of them is that there will always be someone stronger than you. You should all know that in this world there are people who are younger than you and stronger than me."

"But it's not fair!" Naruto called out.

"Fair's got nothing to do with it," Kakashi answered. "We should get going. We're almost to Tazuna-san's house." He picked up his foot to take a step, but pain shot through his body. The silver-haired man could feel every muscle tense as the ground seemed to slowly rush to meet him. He heard the startled cries of Sakura and Naruto and had only one thought.

_Damn…must've used the Sharingan too much._

**SCENE CHANGE  
**

Somehow, with two members of their team unconscious, Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto managed to escort Tazuna home without further incident. Once there, the old man's daughter immediately prepared beds for the knocked out ninjas. Warai was put in a room with the other genin, while Kakashi had his own. Having the four young ninja in the same room would be tough, but they had enough respect for their teacher to allow him his own room—at least until he woke up and they could start conning him into sharing.

But that time was going to be long in coming.

Sakura looked down at her sensei for the fifth time in as many minutes and sighed. "Thank Kami you can make shadow clones, Naruto," she said. The blonde boy leaned against the doorjamb that separated the jounin's room from theirs with his arms folded over his chest. "Otherwise we would've had a hard time bringing both of them here."

"I'm more concerned about when they'll wake up," Naruto replied. "You didn't have to knock Warai out, you know."

"It was an order," Sakura defended.

"Still, I could have restrained her," Naruto said. His eyes darted to his girlfriend's sleeping form. "Being here is…unsettling for her. You should try to empathize."

The two continued to argue, but the fourth genin member of Team 7 simply watched everything quietly. Normally, Sasuke would have raised an eyebrow at the blonde boy's choice of words. But after living with each other for months, the Uchiha knew that Naruto's vocabulary was much more advanced than what he showed to the others at the Academy. Instead, he looked over at Kakashi's sleeping face and frowned at the vertical scar that marred their teacher's left eye.

_How did he get the Sharingan? _He wondered.

A soft groan from the body in front of him diverted his attention from his thoughts. Sakura paused in raising her fist at Naruto and turned around. Naruto, seeing his opportunity for escape, ran to Kakashi's other side and sat on his heels. Sakura went to get Tazuna and his daughter Tsunami. The two boys waited for the others as their sensei opened mismatched eyes slowly. He blinked a few times before glancing at them without moving his head.

"So you got us here by yourselves, eh?" he asked. "And you left my mask on…good restraint."

"As if we'd take advantage of the fact you were unconscious to take your mask off, Kakashi-sensei," Sakura said, returning with the other two adults.

**_Goddangit! _**Inner Sakura ranted. **_We TOTALLY could've seen what's behind that stupid mask!_**

Naruto was having a similar reaction, but managed to keep his face from betraying him. Sakura didn't do so well—she never could hide when she was talking to herself. Her left eyebrow always twitched twice when she did that. Sasuke couldn't care less, but also noticed the kunoichi's reaction.

"How is Warai?" Kakashi asked.

"She's fine," a soft voice called from the doorway.

"Wa-chan!" Naruto jumped up and ran to his girlfriend. He hugged her tight in his arms, despite the fact that she held herself slightly stiff and frozen in his embrace. "I told Sakura-chan that she didn't have to knock you out like that. You're really okay now, right?"

Warai relaxed a fraction against Naruto's warmth and placed her hands on his hips. Her gray eyes zeroed in on Sakura and the other girl shivered at the look in her eyes. It was totally devoid of emotion, resembling a sheet of dull metal, and so bland that it bordered on hostile. Sasuke caught the look and wondered when exactly Warai managed to perfect the art of indifferent glaring.

"We've got a problem," Warai said after gently nudging Naruto to her side with his arm around her shoulders and hers around his waist.

"What is it?" Sakura managed to ask. Warai may be mad at her now, but she was sure that the other girl would get over it soon.

"Something's wrong," Kakashi said from his prone position on the floor. "Something about that Hunter nin was off."

"He wasn't a Hunter," Warai announced. She felt the surprise from everyone in the room except their sensei. The Copy Nin simply closed his eyes as he acknowledged her statement.

"Hunters are supposed to dispose of the body right at the scene of the assassination," Kakashi stated. "The fact that the boy moved the body—even though it was obvious that it was much heavier than him—proves that he wasn't a true Hunter. He was trained by one, but never one himself."

"But he killed Zabuza," Naruto argued.

"The way he did it is suspect also," the silver-haired man said. Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura blinked in confusion. Warai sighed and glanced at her boyfriend.

"Naruto, how hard is it to accurately throw senbon?"

"Extremely," the blonde boy answered his girlfriend's question. "They aren't heavy like kunai and can get blown off course if the wind is strong enough and you didn't put enough force into your throw. Also, since they're just long needles, they don't have the rotational ability to cut through the air and ride air currents like shuriken stars do."

Sasuke was constantly surprised by the amount of information Naruto actually knew. If he had applied himself at the Academy, then perhaps everyone wouldn't have labeled him a dropout. Unfortunately, the only person who could coax any intelligent reply from the blonde was Warai…and even that was a 'hit or miss' situation most of the time.

"And how many parts of the body are vulnerable enough for senbon attacks to successfully result in instant death?" Warai asked the room in general.

"Not enough for a Hunter to really kill a person—not in the situation we were in this morning, anyway." Again, the answer came from the other blonde in the room.

"So that means—" Sakura began.

"—that Zabuza is still alive," Kakashi concluded.

**A/N:**

I'm ssssssooooo ssssssooooorrrrrryyyyyy about the long wait. A **troll **gave me the idea for another story and I was caught up in that one for a while.

And then—horror!—I got writer's block for _both_ of the stories.

Now that school's started again, I won't have as much time as I would like to write stuff, so I don't know when I'll update again. Just please don't abandon reading this fic, please?

Dang line break thing still isn't working...sorry for the SCENE CHANGE thing...I hate that.


	18. Chapter 18

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Naruto

* * *

**Chapter 18**

The young man let out a soft sigh as he stood over the small sink in his kitchen. The steam rose lazily in the morning air from the warm water in front of him as it filled the bowl in his hands. Once he had enough, he turned the faucet off and walked in a smooth gait from the kitchen to the bedroom of the small hut. He welcomed the warmth the bowl gave his perpetually chilled hands and set it down on the nightstand next to the bed.

The young man looked down with eyes the color of frozen chocolate at the figure in the bed and a touch of what anyone would call amusement filled them. He took the cloth that lay on the side of bowl and gently soaked it in the water. After wringing the water from it, he placed the cloth on the forehead of the unconscious man. Competent hands ran over the missing nin's body as he healed the few injuries he found.

The young man then picked up a discarded needlepoint circle, sat down next to the bed, and prepared himself for a long wait.

* * *

The four genin and one jounin of Team 7 stood in a large clearing in the forest behind Tazuna's house. Sakura and Sasuke stood next to Naruto in their normal ninja gear while Warai stood a bit apart from the others. A messy bun held up her dark blonde hair and she tied her hitai-ate around her waist like a belt. Apart from that change, she wore her usual black pants, black fishnet shirt over a dark blue bikini top, and the sleeveless, collarless black trench coat that she buttoned from her neck to her naval. The katana that Hayate gave her hung across her back—held by a dark red sash that ran from her right shoulder to her left hip. 

Naruto shifted his weight, yawned, and scratched the back of his head. As he did, the front of his own trench coat opened to reveal another one of his new vest/jackets—this time a dark burnt orange color—and his black cargo pants. Three thin, orange belts wound around his waist and held his kunai pouch. The blonde boy had a katana of his own—given to him by Hayate's fiancée, Uzuki Yugao—which he held lightly by its scabbard as it hung from his belts.

If Sasuke and Sakura had any questions regarding their teammate's new weapons, they kept quiet. With the knowledge that Zabuza still lived fresh in their minds, both genin believed that the more armed they were, the better. The other member's of Team 7 also noticed the dark blue falcon emblems sewn onto the backs of Naruto and Warai's coats. While Sakura and Sasuke didn't know the significance of the emblem, they knew that Tazuna's daughter jerked in surprise and fear when she saw the dark blue falcon on Warai's back.

Kakashi knew that the blue falcon was the clan symbol of Warai's family. Since they came from the Wave Country, Tazuna and his daughter Tsunami knew that as well. More importantly, they knew who the Taka Clan was and what they could do. After a short talk with the two adults, Kakashi assured them that Warai and Naruto would defend them to the best of their ability. He also managed to inform Tazuna's daughter that neither of the blondes had a direct blood connection to the murdered Taka Clan.

Well used to telling lies, the silver-haired ninja bluntly told the concerned Tsunami that both genin were born and raised in Konoha. He even went so far as to imply a blood connection between himself and Warai. The emblems, he'd told them, were a way of connecting with the family they'd never had the pleasure to meet.

"What are we doing out here, Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked, breaking Kakashi from his musings. "We should be out there looking for Zabuza."

"We could do that," the jounin answered. "But you'd only end up dead." Kakashi stared at the blonde boy and adjusted his weight onto the crutches he was using. "I'm too weak to do anything and you all are years behind him in experience and strength."

"So we need to get stronger," Warai said. Her hands tightened into fists as she recalled the masked Hunter nin who took Zabuza's body away. "If we're going to take them down, we need to get stronger."

"And that's why we're out here," Kakashi smiled beneath his mask. He didn't miss the small sign of her anger and filed that away to think about later. "I'm going to teach three of you an exercise that is going to improve your chakra control. Once you've all mastered it, I'll give out more personalized training. But you need to bulk up your chakra first."

"What are we going to do?" Sasuke asked.

"Watch."

The genin watched as their teacher hobbled to the base of a large tree. After his hands formed into the Master Seal, Kakashi focused chakra to his feet. Once done, he slowly made his way up the tree trunk, using the crutches to support him. Three of the genin stared in slack-jawed amazement as their sensei climbed the tree as easily as he walked on the ground…only vertically. Kakashi walked upside down onto a branch and hung there as he looked at his students.

"I want you to climb these trees using chakra," he said calmly. "Focus chakra into your feet and run up the trunk. You'll need to keep the chakra constant or you'll fall off. And you'll have to run for a head start since you've never done this before. Here…" Three kunai flew threw the air and landed at the feet of Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke. "Use these to mark where you are before you fall down—and you _will _fall down"

"What about Wa-chan?" Naruto asked, picking up his kunai. "You didn't give her a kunai."

Kakashi slowly walked down the tree trunk and stopped in front of the blonde girl. "I know that Warai can already do this exercise," he stated. "I'm going to give her personalized training today. No one moves on to the special training until they reach the top of the tree. So before Warai and I leave to train, let's see what you can do right now."

Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke nodded with determination in their eyes. Both Warai and Kakashi looked on in interest as the three genin focused their chakra and with war cries rushed at their respective trees. It was no surprise to Warai that Naruto fell first. He always put too little chakra into techniques the first time he tried them.

Kakashi noticed this as well and turned his head to watch Sasuke—just in time to see the wood beneath the Uchiha's feet crack and watch as the boy slashed a dark line above the fracture before he flipped back onto the ground. The two on the ground looked up when Sakura's voice called down to them.

"This is easier than I thought!" the rosette-haired girl shouted down. Warai smiled when she saw that her fellow kunoichi sat on one of the higher branches of the trees. The girl easily beat out Sasuke by ten feet.

"Naru-kun never puts enough chakra into new exercises and Sasuke always puts too much chakra into things," Warai murmured. "It's like he's overcompensating for something. Sakura's got almost perfect chakra control to begin with, but she doesn't have much in reserve. This training should fix that though."

Naruto and Sasuke scowled at Sakura and ran at the trees again. Sakura slowly made her way down and began the exercise again.

"What are you going to do about them?" Warai asked.

"What would _you _do, Warai?" he asked instead.

"Sakura will get to the top by tonight," she stated. "Her endurance is the lowest out of the four of us, so I'd find a way to increase her endurance and at the same time make her chakra control even more perfect than it already is. Her chakra reserves will grow in response to that."

Kakashi nodded as they both watched the three repeat the tree climbing exercise. He'd already decided to give Sakura a set of chakra weights, but hearing Warai come up with similar training only reinforced his decision.

"Sasuke is going to break that tree," Warai frowned as the sound of breaking wood echoed through the clearing. "That boy is a walking advertisement for overkill."

"How so?" Kakashi wondered out loud, although he knew the answer.

"You saw his _Goukakyuu no Jutsu_ (Grand Fireball Technique). It's a huge ball of fire that hurts virtually nothing."

"So how would you fix that?"

"I'd do something like make him light candles using that jutsu," Warai didn't notice that Kakashi's eyebrows rose at her suggestion. "He'd have to focus really hard to make the flame small enough so that it doesn't melt the candle, but strong enough that it lights. Oh, and I'd place the candles about twenty feet from him. It'll teach him subtlety and improve his control and aim."

Kakashi was impressed. He was going to give Sasuke chakra weights as well, but Warai's idea was much better.

"And for Naruto?" he asked.

"Naruto just needs to work it out himself," she said. "He'll put more chakra into tree climbing eventually and his chakra reserves are already huge. I'd just give him more jutsus to learn. For some reason, the more complicated a jutsu is, the faster he learns it. And I'd find a way to increase his speed. Sasuke's fast, but Naruto could be faster if he tried."

"Very observant. You'll make a decent jounin one day, Warai," Kakashi replied. "As long as you don't mess things up, that is."

"What kind of training are you going to give me, Kakashi-sensei?" Warai asked, suddenly turning to face the masked man. "I hope it's not something lame like chakra weights. My mom gave up giving them to me when I was seven."

"Of course I have something for you besides chakra weights," he said. "Let's move over a few clearings so that we don't distract the others, hmm?" The Copy Ninja scratched his chin and thought of the four sets of chakra weights in his pack.

_Damn, now I have to think of something else…_

* * *

Naruto panted as he rested his hands on his knees. Looking up at the tree in front of him, his frown deepened. He'd made some progress in the two hours since Kakashi left with Warai, but in the past ten minutes he couldn't seem to get past a certain point. The blonde sighed as he heard Sasuke's grunt of effort to his left. 

_At least I'm not the only one who's not getting this, _he thought.

Naruto then turned to glance at Sakura. She'd reached the top half an hour ago—much to the annoyance of the boys—and decided to clean up a bit before she searched for her other teammates. The pink-haired girl sat on the floor as she picked wood splinters off of her hands and shins. Naruto hung his head and prepared to swallow his pride.

Sakura was about to get up when a shadow paused over her. Keeping her smile to herself, she raised her eyes to the figure in front of her and raised a silent pink eyebrow. Naruto's control these days impressed her—he held out longer than she thought he would before coming to her for help.

"Can I help you?" she asked, although she knew _exactly _why the blonde teen sought her out.

"Ne, Sakura," Naruto whispered. "Can you tell me the secret to this? I'm kinda stuck."

"Why should I?" she teased.

"Because we're friends?" he answered. "And because I want to get to that special training Kakashi-sensei keeps talking about. I have to be stronger when we meet up with bandage face later."

"Okay," Sakura relented. "This is all about imagining your chakra on your feet and then making it so you can stick to the tree right?" She waited for the blonde to nod before continuing. "Well, if you think about it like adding another shoe onto your foot, but one that will let you walk up the tree, it should work."

"Is that how _you _do it?" Naruto asked.

"I think about how I feel when I walk after I've stepped in mud," the kunoichi admitted. "It's kind of sticky and slow, but after a while you get used to it. Your problem is that you don't keep the chakra constant. That's what's making you fall so often."

"So what do I do to fix that?" Naruto asked. They both looked up when Sasuke yelled out in annoyance and another sound marked the breaking of yet another part of his tree.

"Chakra is energy that's taken from mixing our physical strength and spiritual strength," Sakura started after a moment. "It's not something that you can really hold in your hand and feel. It's more like…water…in the way that it flows and how we can manipulate it. But it's not as thick as water. It's got this way of slipping around if we can't control it right. Am I making any sense?"

Naruto stared at Sakura and gave her an encouraging smile. "Actually, you are," he stated. "I guess chakra's more like steam then, huh? It's still water, but more difficult to control."

"That's not a bad comparison, Naruto," Sakura smiled. An idea occurred to the pink-haired girl and she snapped her fingers. "You can think of your chakra as steam and just let it come out of your feet. Imagine that as you walk up the tree the steam cools against the tree and makes you stick a little to it."

"That way I'll be able to walk up the tree, but won't put so much pressure on it that it breaks," Naruto realized. He jumped up and hugged the girl enthusiastically. "Have you ever thought about teaching at the Academy, Sakura-chan? You're a natural."

Sakura blushed a bit at the praise and shook her head. "I think I'd go crazy in a classroom. I'd prefer to go on missions and be outside," she laughed. "Besides, I don't think I have the right personality. I'd probably kill half of the students because they annoyed me."

"Then maybe when you're a jounin, you should think about teaching a genin team, eh?" Naruto grinned before he ran at his tree to give their new theory a try.

_Genin team? _Sakura thought as she stood up and wiped the leaves off of her backside. She didn't know why, but the idea held definite appeal. The pink-haired girl smiled when Naruto yelled a thank you down at her from about ten feet higher than his previous attempt and she waved in response. She noticed Sasuke glaring at the both of them, but sighed when he just turned around and continued to destroy his tree.

_Fine, _she thought. _If he doesn't want help, that's fine. _

She spun around and began to look for Warai and Kakashi. She was ready for her special training.

* * *

"Are you tired already?" Kakashi taunted from his crouched position. "It's only been two hours." 

Warai panted and impatiently wiped the blood off of her cheek. The cut below her eye stung a bit, but she pushed the pain out of her mind as she charged again at her sensei. She continued her assault by throwing punches and kicks at the man, but none of her blows seemed to faze her target. It didn't matter that Kakashi was still using his crutches; the damn man was as tough an opponent now as when he was completely healthy. As she moved around him, Warai hoped that he didn't notice the ground beneath their feet becoming slick with water.

A sound behind her caused Warai's attention to waver just long enough for Kakashi to slam her hard in the ribcage with his left crutch. Her arms came up automatically to block his next strike and she let herself move with the force of the hit. When she sat up from her prone position, she noticed that her opponent was now five meters from her—directly in the center of the circle of damp grass and dirt she created during their fight. Smiling maliciously, the blonde girl rapidly flew through a series of seals that Kakashi instantly recognized. Shock kept him immobile as Warai added a new seal and yelled out the jutsu's name.

"_**Chidori: Ryouiki no Houfuku!"**_

Kakashi couldn't do anything but stare as two small, but powerful balls of electricity formed in the girl's hands. Warai's smile grew at her sensei's dumbfounded look as she mercilessly slammed her palms into the damp ground at her feet. The Copy Nin reacted a second too late and groaned in pain as the electrical charge from the jutsu traveled along the ground and zapped its way into his body. Even though the charge lasted a second, maybe two at the most, it was the equivalent of a small lightning strike.

Warai let herself smirk in satisfaction for a few seconds before exhaustion came over her and she fell onto her knees. She was dimly aware of Kakashi mirroring her position before she fell into a pair of pale arms. She blinked her eyes, knowing that the dark blue was giving way to her normal gray color, and stared up at her fellow kunoichi.

"Hey Sakura!" she smiled.

"Hey yourself," Sakura frowned. "You know, the boys will be really mad if you kill our teacher before they get any of that 'special training' they've been promised."

"I didn't kill him," Warai assured her friend. When Sakura merely frowned harder, Warai sat up in horror. "Oh, Kami! I didn't kill him, did I?"

"No," a familiar voice said. "You didn't kill me." Five meters away, Kakashi was slowly making his way to his feet. The area around him was charred black and the dirt held the whitish hue of fire pit ash. The pink-haired girl glared at them both before she burst out laughing.

"What's so funny?" Warai asked, pushing herself to her feet. This action only served to make Sakura laugh harder. Kakashi chuckled softly as he made his way over to the girls. Placing a hand on Warai's shoulder he gave her the words of praise she deserved.

"Congratulations, Warai," he said. "You've just created your own jutsu. Not a lot of ninja can claim to have done that these days."

Warai ignored Sakura's gasp of astonishment and shook her head. "I didn't create it all on my own," she corrected. "I just took your jutsu and modified it."

"You know full well that _Chidori _isn't supposed to work that way," he said. "You changed it into something only you can use. That means that it's now _your _jutsu."

"But—"

Kakashi held up a hand to stop Warai's next sentence. "Accept credit where you've earned it, Warai. There are still a few problems with that jutsu that you need to work out, but you can do that while I train with Sakura here," he said. Their attention went to the laughing girl and Kakashi sighed. "After she calms down I'll teach her a few new things. Until she does, I'll be over there by that tree."

The two girls watched as their sensei hobbled along to his designated tree with none of the grace and agility he used during his spar with Warai. The blonde girl turned to her teammate and frowned when Sakura only laughed harder.

"Why in all the holy hells are you laughing, Haruno Sakura!?" Warai yelled. Sakura struggled to stop laughing and finally managed once she took her eyes off of her friend.

"So _Chidori _is one of Kakashi-sensei's jutsus?" the rosette-haired girl asked, trying hard to keep her voice even.

"It's the only one he knows that he created himself," Warai answered.

"So it creates electricity using chakra and now you've made up a variation on it," Sakura summed up.

"Yeah," the other girl replied cautiously. "I don't know why he insists on saying I created the jutsu though."

"What did you call it again?"

"_Chidori: Ryouiki no Houfuku,_" Warai supplied.

"Field of Retribution?" Sakura repeated trying not to think of another way the name could be interpreted.

"It makes sense," Warai defended the name she chose for her jutsu.

"It creates a field of electricity that shocks whoever is in the circle, right?" the other girl asked.

"Right," the blonde answered. She felt a slight pull on her hair and undid the ponytail holder holding her bun up. Sakura watched the movement and snickered behind her hand. Warai got fed up with the laughs and poked her teammate in the arm. "Tell me what's so damn funny, Haruno, or I'll shave Sasuke's head tonight when he's asleep."

"Funny you should bring up hairstyles right now, Wa-chan," Sakura snorted.

"What?" Warai brought her hand to her hair and almost cried out when her hands touched the dry, frizzy strands. The blonde ran over to the small brook on the side of the clearing and stared down at her reflection. This time, she did cry out.

_**"OH KAMI…!!!"**_

Sakura laughed louder at Warai's horrified expression. She ignored the other girl's death glare and glanced at their teacher out of the corner of her eye.

"At least now we know why Kakashi-sensei's hair stands up like that," Sakura joked.

"Sakura…" Warai wailed. "SHUT UP AND GET ME SOME CONDITIONER!!"

* * *

**Jutsu list:**

_**Chidori: Ryouiki no Houfuku—**_(Chidori: Field of Retribution) this is a jutsu I made up specifically for Warai to use. Since she's been around Kakashi for so long, she knows all about _Chidori_. But she doesn't have the Sharingan and can't use it the way he does. I'll explain the mechanics of the jutsu in the next chapter—if not then, then the chapter after next—or rather, I'll have Warai or Kakashi explain it.

* * *

**A/N:**

I am so sorry about the long update. I just didn't have enough mojo to keep going to work _and_ write fanfics for the past year…

Yes, I wrote "year"

I haven't updated any of my stories for the longest time and I had writer's block of the worst sort…pleh, I hate that.

But I always end up writing my best stuff during the summer and that's what I'm hoping will happen again this year.

For those of you who've waited for this update, thanks for staying with me.

For those of you who're reading this story for the first time, thanks for joining the party.

I promise to update more regularly from now on!

On my trout I promise:D


	19. Chapter 19

**A/N:**

Sorry about the wait. This chapter felt a bit forced to me and I'll probably come back and rewrite it at some point.

That said…please beware…a **rant **is coming up.

I appreciate the fact that I have people who are eager for me to continue this story. I'm flattered and thankful that you've read this far and want me to keep writing.

But sending me private messages to update faster and calling the lack of updates "irritating" isn't the best way to do it.

My writing is "in the moment" and when the moment's not there, the writing doesn't happen. I don't like updating when the chapter isn't ready—and trust me, this chapter is not ready—but I'm updating because I'm hoping this will get me out of my current writer's slump.

That's why I'm updating…**not** because I've been bugged into updating a crappy chapter I'm less than proud of.

Unlike the large portion of authors at this site, I am over the age of 16. I'm actually nearing the latter half of my 20's soon and because of this I can't dedicate every waking moment to updating my stories.

I have my own life, job, and responsibilities beyond writing fanfics and updating every week. This is something I do for relaxation and the joy of writing something creative that I can be glad to write more of.

But writing fanfics is **not **my life.

Please don't abandon this fic because I've admitted that fact.

I **do **love writing and I wish I could do it 24/7, but the truth is that I have to work very hard to support myself (i.e. pay bills, rent, take care of my family, etc.). I write when I have the time and update when the chapter's ready…no sooner and no later.

If those who keep harping about "late ass updates" don't understand those facts, then they need to take a good look at what it takes to be a grown adult in our society and learn what it means to prioritize your life...and spell--for godsakes' learn how to spell!

For those of my loyal readers who've waited patiently for each update and express their thanks in reviews and wonder when I'll update next, thank you for your patience and appreciation of my stories.

I write for myself…first and foremost.

Getting great reviews from great readers is just an added bonus.

**RANT OVER**

Sorry about that…now, on to the story!

* * *

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto.

* * *

**Chapter 19**

Warai left Sakura and their sensei to their training and slowly walked through the forest to the clearing where the boys were practicing their tree climbing exercise. As she did, she thought back to her spar with Kakashi. Although he'd moved with less grace and a little more pain than usual, the jounin was still strong enough to keep her on her toes for the better part of two hours. If it weren't for her idea to adapt his own jutsu, they'd probably still be fighting.

In fact, the only reason why her **_Chidori: Ryouiki no Houfuku_** (One-Thousand Birds: Field of Retribution) even worked on the older man was because she had the element of surprise. If the jutsu failed, then Kakashi could have knocked her out in a second. The chakra needed for her technique was enormous; it depleted almost one-third of her chakra stores. Kakashi even told her that they would have to classify it as a wide area paralyzing jutsu as soon as they got back to Konoha. Furthermore, the Copy Nin restricted Warai to using it only as a finishing move in one-on-one battles.

Warai accepted her teacher's rule towards using the new technique with no argument whatsoever.

The blonde girl didn't like to think of herself as one of those stereotypical rookie kunoichis whose only desire is to look good as she fought, but the effect the jutsu had on her hair was a little too much. As it stood, she already spent a small fortune on conditioner for her long locks.

Lost in her thoughts, Warai didn't notice that she'd reached the clearing until she bumped into the sweaty back of one Uchiha Sasuke.

"Hey!" the girl yelled. She clapped the Uchiha on his back and grinned when he turned annoyed eyes toward her. "Have you seen Naruto?"

"He's around," Sasuke answered distractedly. He'd made progress since Sakura left, but not as much as he wanted to make.

"How's the training going?" Warai asked politely.

The dark-haired boy frowned at her and grunted. "It's going."

"…Okay…" Warai trailed off when Sasuke didn't offer any more information. She swung her arms and clapped her hands together when all he did was stare at her. "I'm gonna go find Naruto now. Um, good luck with the climbing then."

Sasuke didn't respond to her—he was too busy running up his tree.

* * *

"Tell me why I'm touching a dead fish again, Kakashi-sensei."

"It's not a dead fish, Sakura-chan," the white-haired man replied. "It's an almost dead fish. And you're touching it because I want to teach you how to run a medical diagnostic on a living creature using chakra."

"You're going to teach me medical justu?" Sakura asked in awe. Sure, she'd expressed an interest in learning medicine and the Sandaime gave her a few scrolls on the subject, but she didn't realize that Kakashi would actually know any medical jutsu to teach her.

"I'm just going to show you a few techniques that they teach to ANBU ninja," Kakashi qualified, holding up a hand. "There are three that every shinobi should know but don't for some reason or another. In my experience it's because most prefer to ignore the medical and healing aspects of chakra. That and the fact that most ninja don't have the precise chakra control needed for the more advanced jutsus keeps the medical shinobi in an elite and highly protected class."

"Protected?" Sakura frowned. She was tired of the stronger members of her team constantly trying to protect her. Apparently, it was too much to hope for her sensei to actually teach her any techniques that she could use in battle. Instead of helping her with her taijutsu, Kakashi wanted to teach her something that would keep her exactly where she was—watching on the sidelines.

"Not a lot of people have what it takes to be great healers, Sakura," Kakashi said, correctly interpreting the look on her face. "The people who do are valued and protected by the villages that house them. Not because they're weak, but because they're near priceless in the services they give to their villages. Without _**iryou-nin**_ (medic-nin), it would take up to three times longer for shinobi to heal from dangerous missions."

The rosette-haired girl tilted her head and stared at the half-dead fish in front of her. She'd never thought of things that way. If she became a good _iryou-nin_, then she'd have something to offer her team that the others couldn't. Well aware of her faults, Sakura mentally ran through the reasons why she should become a medic.

She knew that she wasn't that good at taijustu and her ninjutsu was extremely limited. Nor did she have a kekkei genkai (bloodline limit) to help her out in battle. And although she was above average at it, she would have to dedicate most of her training to the art of genjutsu in order to become a Master like Kurenai-sensei. Her almost perfect chakra control was the only thing she was truly better at than the rest of her teammates.

Add all that to the fact that she was a virtual walking library and could recall facts at the drop of a kunai; of course it made sense for her to take up a more non-combative role in her team. Iruka-sensei and several others she could name didn't go out on missions that often, but served the village in other ways and in other capacities. It didn't mean that they were any less gifted than the other shinobi. They just used their talents in different areas.

Sakura remembered what Naruto told her a few hours ago: _"Have you ever thought about teaching at the Academy, Sakura-chan? You're a natural."_

The idea was becoming more appealing by the second.

Kakashi smiled as he saw the determined light enter the girl's eyes and watched as she straightened her shoulders. Sakura turned her gaze to her sensei and asked one question.

"So how does this jutsu work?"

_Atta girl,_ Kakashi thought as he began instructing the kunoichi on the finer points of medical jutsu.

* * *

"Naruto?" Warai called out, cupping her hands around her mouth. "I know you're up there! Come on down and have some lunch with me!"

She frowned, as the only reaction she got was a small rustle of leaves for her trouble. Warai growled as she jumped up to the nearest branch and walked up the tree to find her boyfriend. When she finally got to where she first sensed his chakra, her frown disappeared and a small smile replaced it.

Naruto was there alright…scaring the squirrels with his snores.

Very tempted to wake the boy up, Warai shook her head slightly and simply sat down in front of him on the wide tree branch. The blonde girl slowly leant back so that Naruto's chest touched her back. Then she rested her head on the other blonde's shoulder and sighed.

Sleep was just as good as food for restoring lost chakra.

"When did you reach the top, Naru-kun?" Warai asked softly, feeling a change in his breathing. The warm chest behind her shook a bit with his husky chuckles. Equally warm arms wrapped around her waist and held her more firmly to the boy.

"A few minutes ago, Wa-chan," Naruto answered. "I thought I could take a quick nap before I ate something and start over again."

"Are you going to pretend that you're still working on this?" she asked, a bit annoyed at Naruto's attitude.

"I'm going to keep working on it until it's second nature," was the answer she received. "Besides, Sasuke's already sulky enough since you and Sakura got to the special training before him."

"Since when do _you _accommodate the Uchiha?" Naruto couldn't help but laugh at the angry tone in her voice, but decided to keep it down to more husky chuckles.

"He's not the one I'm accommodating," he said.

"What are you talking about?" Warai wondered.

"Don't you feel it, Wa-chan?" he asked. "If you look _really _carefully you'll notice." Warai didn't understand what he meant until he tapped on her stomach a couple of times. Then her gray eyes narrowed as she focused her chakra and scanned the area.

"There are one…no, two people watching us. The first one is that brat from Tazuna's house—Inari's his name right?" Warai felt Naruto nod and lean in to nuzzle the back of her neck. She didn't notice how his arms tightened just a bit more on her waist as she scanned the area a second time. "The second one is…"

Naruto kept his grip firm when the girl in his arms jerked in anger. He couldn't do anything about the abrupt killing intent leaking from Warai, but he could keep her from acting out on that intent.

"Tone it down," he ordered, whispering right into her ear. "You'll blow his cover and ours. We're not _supposed _to sense chakra signatures that well, remember?" Naruto made sure that his lips touched the shell of her ear and smiled when her angry trembling became more like shivering.

Warai clenched her fists, but obeyed Naruto's order. Instead of rushing out to kill the person spying on them, she focused on the feel of Naruto kissing her ear and the back of her neck. They hadn't had a decent cuddle session since they left Konoha and it was making her more irritated than normal.

"Do you think he felt that?" Warai asked after a while. She worried that her burst of killing intent warned their watcher that his cover was blown.

"He'll think that we just had an argument," Naruto said.

"How are you so sure?"

"Well…" he drawled, "There was the way you were yelling at the bottom of the tree for me to come down."

"You _did _hear me!"

"And then the way you sounded all annoyed and got that constipated look on your face when you asked about the tree exercise."

"I did not look constipated," Warai shot back. "You couldn't even see my face!"

"I know you and your faces, Wa-chan. You looked constipated."

"You're an idiot!"

"Thirdly," he continued. "There was the way you were angry about me letting Sasuke 'finish' the exercise before me."

"Why are you doing that?" she asked, dropping the subject of her so-called 'constipated' face.

"For the same reason I pretend to be a huge idiot in Konoha," he answered.

"Always letting people underestimate you," Warai sighed. She understood his strategy, but sometimes she hated him for it. Shaking her head, she turned to look up at her boyfriend and smiled. "Speaking of people underestimating us…I kicked Kakashi-sensei's ass today. I made up a new jutsu and fried him."

"You did?" Naruto asked. "What's it do and what do you call it?"

"Well first I create a sheet of water on the floor or ground where my opponent is," she started.

"Yeah…"

"Then I create a Chidori and slice that in half so that I have two smaller versions of it," she continued. "And after that I slam the mini-Chidori into the water and paralyze the enemy with the lightning."

"So you let the current from the Chidori travel over the water you put on the ground," Naruto surmised. "But what happens if the entire ground is wet or your enemy can soak up or evaporate the water in some way?"

Warai frowned. "I didn't say that it was perfect—I only came up with it today. I'm still working on it."

"I know," Naruto chuckled. "You'll probably stay up all night thinking about it. You'll work it out." The blonde girl nodded in determination and leaned back against her boyfriend.

"So what did you name it?"

"_Chidori: Ryouiki no Houfuku_," she answered.

"**_Houfuku_**?" Naruto repeated, unable to keep his laughter inside any longer. "Nice name…" he gasped, "it matches yours."

Warai realized what he meant and jumped up to glare at him. "It means 'Field of Retribution,' dobe," she growled.

"Are you sure, _Warai-chan_?" Naruto snickered.

"Oh shut up!" she shot back. The two began to bicker and yell at each other, heedless of the other inhabitants of the forest. Naruto's loud laughter continued echoing throughout the forest, disturbing the other shinobi training; angering one small boy intent on hating the ninja; and confusing the other watcher immensely at hearing him shout the blonde girl's name over and over in a taunting manner.

_"Warai-chan…"_

The watcher stood up from his position in the underbrush and dusted the leaves off of his kimono. Picking up the basket of herbs he'd collected, the watcher turned and began the walk to his temporary home. It wasn't that uncommon of a name, but he couldn't help but wonder. Throughout his life there was only one person he knew with that name.

And _that _person—he knew without a doubt—was frozen in ice for all eternity.

* * *

**Jutsu List:**

**Chidori: Ryouiki no Houfuku**—(Chidori: Field of Retribution) this is a jutsu I made up specifically for Warai to use. Since she's been around Kakashi for so long, she knows this jutsu. But she doesn't have the Sharingan and can't use it the way he does.

Another way to translate _**houfuku **_is 'convulsed by laughter.' The reason why Naruto is so amused by her choice of justu names is that _**warai **_means 'laughter' or 'smile' in Japanese. That's what he means by matching the name of her jutsu with her own name.


	20. AUTHOR'S NOTE: PLEASE READ

**Warning...**

alright don't yell at me or message me about what a horrible author i am but prepare yourselves...

i'm putting this story on hiatus

i know i'm not the best at updating, but that's usually because i feel no inspiration.

now i can't update because my personal life is--for lack of a better word--shit right now.

i'm in the middle (more like the beginning) of a divorce and the emotional, financial, and social backlash from that is taking up my time and literally sucked my passion for writing out of my life. i can barely get the energy to get up to go to work, let alone write a story.

especially a romance...

i don't know how long this mood is gonna last, but if it's longer than two months, i'll hold "open auditions" for other authors who might want to take this story up and continue writing it with notes and outlines that i have.

again, i'm sorry about the delays...especially to those who've been with this story from the beginning.

nothing can really express the pain i'm feeling right now and no words i can put together can explain why my divorce is even happening in the first place...but my younger cousin played a song for me and the chorus hit me kinda hard:

_I__ don't know what I'd do if I ever lost you  
And all the loneliness I would go through  
But if you wanna leave I won't stop you  
'Cause I don't want you if you don't want me  
To be the one...the only one you wanna run to  
Baby boy you know I've just begun to  
Realize what's important to me  
So don't leave.  
Don't leave  
--"Don't Leave" by Vanessa Hudgens_

yeah...I know...I'm not a fan of High School Musical, but those lyrics are especially meaningful to me right now...

p.s.  
anyone count the number of times i used "especially" in this message?


End file.
